Saint Sylvestre
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2026
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Pan-seared foie gras, blue cheese, apricot tart
✨ Technical Specifications
Plaimont's Saint Sylvestre is a legendary sweet white wine from the Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh appellation in South-West France, celebrated for its dramatic and historic harvest. By tradition, the grapes for this cuvée are left on the vines until the very last day of the year, December 31st—the feast of Saint Sylvestre. This extreme late harvest relies on the warm, dry autumn winds from the Pyrenees to dry the grapes on the vine, concentrating their natural sugars and acidity while preserving intense aromatic complexity. The harvest itself is a festive, torchlit night-time event, bringing together local vignerons to pick the raisined berries. The resulting wine is a masterpiece of balance, offering luscious sweetness countered by a vibrant, electric spine of acidity, with complex notes of candied citrus, exotic fruits, and honey. It stands as a testament to the daring spirit of the Pyrenean foothills and Plaimont's dedication to preserving ancestral viticultural traditions.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1979 through the union of wine cooperatives in Plaisance, Aignan, and Saint-Mont spearheaded by André Dubosc, Plaimont is an undisputed viticultural vanguard in Gascony and the Pyrenean foothills. Spanning diverse terroirs across AOC Saint-Mont, Madiran, Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, and Côtes de Gascogne, its vineyards are defined by variegated soils of tawny sands (sables fauves), limestone, and clay-rich molasse tempered by Atlantic and mountain currents. Renowned worldwide for its preservation of ampelographic heritage—exemplified by its private conservatory and historic ungrafted pre-phylloxera plots in Sarragachies—Plaimont has revived forgotten indigenous varieties such as Tardif, Arrufiac, and Manseng Noir. In white vinification, Plaimont champions crystalline freshness, precise reductive aromatic protection, and thoughtful lees contact, highlighting local Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng, and Colombard. Landmark cuvées include Cirque Nord, Les Cépages Préservés, and Les Vignes Retrouvées, presenting tensile minerality, bright citrus, exotic orchard fruit, and textural salinity emblematic of southwest France.
🍇 Grapes
Petit Manseng