Southwest France, Winemaker of the Year – Daniel Hecquet.

We have been running our Bordeaux Winetrail bike tour since 1998 – our 2nd tour after the Dordogne.

The pandemic caused a pause – until 2025. So I was beyond delighted to end up guiding two tours last Summer.

I love this tour. – it was hard to design. If you want a true exploration of the wines of this region, you need to find a way through, round, underneath or over two major rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne. Bordeaux itself is a large city, and difficult to approach nicely on a bike – that’s not true anymore, with all the new bike paths, but it was definitely true in 1998!

It was incredibly satisfying when Stéphane and I finally arrived at our itinerary – a balance between artisan winemakers and world-famous vineyards like Chateau Lynch-Bages. A mix of dry white wines, drinkable reds, famous reds, and dessert wines.

And at the same time, every 30 miles (48Km) or so, there has to be a nice hotel and somehwere nice to eat. It was hard work, took much more research than the Dordogne tour, and I’m very proud of it.

The highlight, last year just as in 1998, was a visit to Château Puy Servain. near Bergerac. The owner is a renowned winemaker, Daniel Hecquet. I have never really been sure why he lets us visit – he’s a bit of a guru, and I take huge pride in what appears to be almost a friendship. Every year I expect Daniel to say “Why don’t you just leave me alone, you time-wasting ****!” But he never does, and for me it’s always our best visit of the week, tasting red & white AOC Montravel wines (part of the wider Bergerac appellation) and his extraordinary dessert wines within the Haut Montravel appellation.

 

 

His background is oenology (the study of wine and winemaking), and you can tell from his ‘office’ – benches full of analysis equipment, test tubes, flasks. He’s still a prominent consulting oenologue, and was previously been the oenologue at Chateau d’Yquem – the world’s most prestigious dessert wine – before returning to the family vineyard.

Daniel wins an extraordinary number of awards – more than any vineyard we visit in Bordeaux, Champagne, Burgundy. So when we’re exploring the French bible of wine, the Guide Hachette, I always turn to Chateau Puy Servain to see how many stars Daniel has won.

 

 

Well this year he excelled himself. A message to the 2 dozen people or so who visited Chateau Puy ervain with me this year: The Guide Hachette declared Daniel Hecquet to be South West France’s ‘Winemaker of the Year’!

The top award that Hachette give is a ‘Coup de Coeur. This translates as ‘a blow to the heart’, but in useage something you fall in love with.

I tried ‘Coup de Coeur’ in ChatGPT, and it actually referenced the Guide Hachette, describing a Coup de Coeur as ‘an editor’s or jury’s top pick — a wine that really impressed them beyond its category or price.’

Chateau Puy Servain won 2 ths year! I can’t imagine I’ve ever visited a vineyard with 2 ‘Coup de Coeur’ in the same edition of the Hachette. It feels like meeting an Olympic gold medallist!

Here’s the entry from this year’s ‘Guide’: Hachette Winemaker of the Year 2026

And here’s a translation into English: Hachette Winemaker Of The Year 2026 – English

Congratulations, Daniel. An unbelievable accolade.