Village names could be appended to the Pécharmant appellation in South-West France

he village of Creysse in the Dordogne has expressed its desire to append the local Pécharmant appellation to its name. Its mayor, Frédéric Delmarès, is spearheading a campaign to extend the name to ‘Creysse en Pécharmant’ in a bid to showcase an appellation that is linked to no villages but simply to a hamlet, and also to differentiate between the village and its namesake counterpart in the neighbouring Lot department.

“The idea has been in the pipeline for the past year”, explains AOC Pécharmant chairman Didier Roches, who runs Domaine du Haut Pécharmant in Bergerac. “At our AGM in December, the producers’ organisation voted a resolution seeking to make the change, confirming our approval for highlighting the appellation name, on the proviso that all three villages belonging to the appellation do the same”, adds Roches.

The town of Bergerac also happens to be a part of the Pécharmant appellation but as it already has its own named appellation, the duplication would not be suitable. Therefore Saint-Sauveur and Lembras are invited to join Creysse in its bid to add ‘en Pécharmant’ to their names. “The marketing board fully supports the proposal to append ‘en Pécharmant’ to the names of the three villages. It is a very welcome way of adding more meaning to a region that attracts holidaymakers. The mayors say they are in favour of the change, but the topic needs to be approved by local residents and it will take time from an administration perspective”, explains the director of the Bergerac-Duras marketing board, Pierre-Henri Cougnaud.

Didier Roches is enthusiastic at the idea of giving the appellation – whose 450 hectares under vine were officially recognised in 1946 – an even stronger local rooting. He stresses the collaborative efforts already accomplished by the producers’ organisation and the villages, particularly the walks that criss-cross the vineyard blocks.