Patrice Lescarret’s Dencon

Dencon sounds a bit like a DIY product - not the most appealing name for a wine but it’s named for a reason. The producer Patrice Lescarret of Domaine Causse Marines isn’t allowed to call this wine Gaillac because it’s made solely with the local grape Ondenc which isn’t officially recognised in the appellation. He therefore had to call it a vin de table but couldn’t put the vintage on the bottle so had to number it 7002. The hoops natural winemakers have to go through . . .

It’s unsulphured, unfiltered, unfined, made with natural yeasts and without insecticides or herbicides - in other words uncompromisingly ‘natural’

We picked it up a couple of years ago when we were in Cahors just as we started to get into natural wine and it’s been down to the Languedoc and back to England, finally sitting in our cupboard for about 15 months. Not ideal, we now realise though it’s survived remarkably well as we discovered when we opened it on Saturday night.

It has the typical richness of an artisanal Gaillac white (quince seemed to me the predominant fruit) with the minerality that is characteristic of many natural wines - a lovely wine to drink at this time of year. I seem to remember an extra lushness when we tasted it in Cahors though. I suspect it would have been better if we’d drunk it sooner after we brought it back however it didn’t need to be decanted.

In the UK Green and Blue sell the 2006 vintage for £20. In France it is stocked by VinNatural.fr and Vin Etonnants and in Australia by Terroir Wines. In London you can drink it at La Trouvaille.

Suggested food matches include foie gras (inevitably in that part of the world, though it hardly seems very natural) tagines, curry (which I think would have to be quite mild) and matured goats cheese. I like the idea of trying it with skate - or other fish - with brown butter . . .