Béarn AOC

Béarn is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) for wine in South West France. It is locateted in the area of intersection of three French departments: Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées and Gers; and two regions: Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrénées. Some vineyards in the area of the Jurançon AOC can also produce red Béarn wine, and some in the area of the Madiran AOC may produce a rosé Béarn. Wines made in the village of Bellocq also carry the appellation Béarn-Bellocq.

History

Pre-History and Antiquity

During the Roman colonisation, a vineyard was planted on the hillsides between Salies-de-Béarn and Bellocq village.

The Middle Ages

Gaston VII de Montcada, Viscount of Béarn, built a fortress in Bellocq. This allowed for the construction of a bastide. The new inhabitants of the bastide contributed to the development of the vineyard. Crossing the vineyard on the Way of St. James, pilgrims making their way to Galicia or returning from their pilgrimage popularised Béarn wine beyond regional borders.

Béarn

Béarn (French pronunciation: ​[be.aʁn]; Gascon: Bearn or Biarn; Basque: Bearno or Biarno) is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the southwest the current département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64). The capitals of Béarn were Beneharnum (until 841), Morlaàs (from ca. 1100), Orthez (from the second half of the 13th century), then Pau (beginning in the mid-15th century).

Béarn is bordered by Basque provinces Soule and Lower Navarre to the west, by Gascony (Landes and Armagnac) to the north, by Bigorre to the east, and by Spain (Aragon) to the south.

The name Béarn comes from Beneharnum, the capital city of the Venarni people, destroyed by Vikings by 840.

Today, the mainstays of the Béarn area are the petroleum industry, the aerospace industry through the helicopter turboshaft engine manufacturer Turbomeca, tourism and agriculture (much of which involves maize (corn) grown for seed). Pau was the birthplace of Elf Aquitaine, which has now become a part of the Total S.A. petroleum company.

Béarn (disambiguation)

Béarn can refer to:

See also