“The 17ha estate of Domaine de Laballe is situated at the eastern edge of the Landes department, where it touches the Gers. This has always been a rather isolated part of France, partly due to the swamps in the area, which hampered the development of the road network. In addition, the wide variety of soil types that make up this region have encouraged the cultivation of many different crops. This, and the inaccessible nature of the landscape, have favoured subsistence farming rather than the production of crops for sale. Even today, accessing the furthest corners of this beautiful region often requires an extended journey along winding lanes.

It should not be thought, however that Noël Laudet (or should that be “M. le Comte”) comes from peasant stock. On the contrary, these former feudal lands were acquired in 1820 by a distant relative, one Jean-Dominique Laudet, a Gascon gentilhomme who, returning from many years spent trading in exotic foodstuffs in the Caribbean, was taken by the area and decided to settle there.

Noël Laudet spent many years as régisseur at Château Beychevelle in the Médoc. During this time the Domaine de Laballe concentrated on Armagnac production. It was in the 1980s, having returned full-time to the domaine, that he decided to start producing white wines. This involved a rethink in terms of blending. Whilst Ugni Blanc, the staple variety of Armagnac, is the perfect grape for distillation, the dry whites it tends to produce are distinctly neutral. The Laudets (Noël is now helped by his very capable son, Christian) have concentrated on Colombard for the production of their white. This variety thrives on the sandy/muddy soils of the area, known locally as “boulbène” or “sables fauves” (from where is derived the name of the cuvée), producing whites which, whilst they are unlikely to rival the top Burgundies or white Bordeaux for complexity, are very crisp, fresh and fragrant, often redolent of exotic fruits and always extremely quaffable. The perfect apéritif.”