Château Pécharmant Corbiac — Attraction in Bergerac

Well my review is very mixed feelings. Whilst our son was visiting us from London after much research we decided to visit this chateau for three reasons. We were having a evening of drinks and canapés the next day an evening hosted by ourselves with friends , so important to get a good stock of wine in . Secondly an experience we have all not tried and living in France was on the “to do “ list and lastly my son has a degree in history so as explained on website would find out some of the history of the chateau itself that has been in the family for decades.

I emailed ahead apologising for my writing in English and asking if a certain day and time were convenient for them as we would need to travel around 1 hour 30 mins each way. I had a short but very nice reply saying we were welcome .

So we set off all three of us and approached this long driveway the chateau. I had charged iPad and phone for photos but thought a bit rude of me to just go in snapping the experience so left behind in the car. Well glad I did as would have been interesting photos of not a lot if I did

Before I go any further the two cases of wine we bought were excellent no Fault to be found there at all As we entered I remember door making a noise to obviously alert that people were in the “shop”. We arrived on time I took my email as confirmation. A lady came through looked all I can explain it looked shocked 3 People inside her premises. We explained in French we had an appointment and that we had emailed for today at this time and then she nodded. She asked putting a list in front of us which one as in vintage were we interested in. We had no idea so pointed to one. In front of 3 of us 1 glass was placed with a sample bearing in mind Covid and we all had masks. My husband said shall we have this then to me and I said to at least try something else so another year chosen. Another single glass placed in front of husband. I’m in 50’s son is 28 for my husband to make choice. I chose not to share glass so son tried this one also and my husband said he liked that also. Next thing. Lady was carrying a box of each and writing out a receipt

No other choice to taste and buy. ( I was the driver so no wine for me but this was not common knowledge) so we were back in car around 20 to 25 mins later 2 cases of wine. We were expecting to buy a lot more for get together and stock for Christmas. That was reason for visit. No history of place explained. We Stood in shop doorway at some stage as someone else in store Either a bad day for lady, not expecting us I think email reply was from somebody else in business/family but overall maybe as December not what we expected especially from reviews. We were going to take friends so glad we didn’t

As I say good...

What a delightful experience! The owner was engaging and entertaining, pausing to explain her wines and their history. It's not every day you meet a 17th (!!) generation wine maker. And I did not know (until yesterday) that there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac (whose history is fascinating even without Dumas). And that's before you taste the wine.

I don't know very much about this region's wines, but the Pécharmant area seems to specialize in claret. The wines we tasted here were balanced and really quite tasty. I can understand why the family before us was buying "six of this" and "six of that". Alas, there is no room for us to carry any home to California and we had to make due with provisioning our remaining stay in Sarlat.

We opened a bottle of the 2014 last night with some foie gras--the pairing was perfect and we were only sorry that this delicious wine is not available to us in the USA. A great bargain and with a lovely story....

We spent a lovely evening with Madame Therese de Corbiac chatting about wines, oenology and various other mutually interesting subjects. She was extremely hospitable and very patient with my poor French. The chateaux is lovely, the setting magnificent and the fact that wine can be delivered back home to the UK is a service that no other winery in the region that we have visited can offer. As for the 'best' Pecharmant - so far it is certainly my favourite! For those interested in wine, it combines the classic 4 grapes of the area into a well structured and complex wine at a very drinkable price. But this is not 'plonk' so you get what you pay for and in my opinion this...