Deep in an area renowned for its independent and strong ancestral culture, the Basque Country is in the southwestern-most part of France, just half an hour from Spain. Here, Irouléguy received its appellation contrôlée in 1970, with about 250 acres of vineyards cultivated by 60 growers.Jean-Claude Berrouet is an Irouléguy native who left home to serve for more than three decades as the winemaker at Château Pétrus. But the Basque region has a powerful pull, and Jean-Claude eventually returned home to his native soil. Appropriately, he named his estate “Herri Mina”; in Basque, herri means “country,” and mina means “homesick.” Gros Manseng – Petit Manseng – Petit Courbu is a fairly common white wine blend in the South West region of France. It combines both Manseng grape varieties (Petit Manseng and Gros Manseng) with the lesser-known Petit Courbu. These wines have good acidity and can display honeysuckle, citrus and green-apple aromas. On the palate flavors tend toward weightier fruit such as mango and baked pears, giving the wines an added textural dimension, mainly due to the thick-skinned Petit Manseng.