Jurançon is a wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 region in South West France

South West France (wine region)

South West France or in French Sud-Ouest, is a wine region in France covering several wine-producing areas situated respectively inland from, and south of, the wine region of Bordeaux...

 in the foothills of the Pyrenees

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

, around the commune of Jurançon

Jurançon

Jurançon is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.-See also:*Jurançon AOC, a wine from this commune*Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department-References:*...

. It produces a dry white wine and a more sought after sweet white wine. The grape varieties used are Gros Manseng

Gros Manseng

Gros Manseng is a white wine grape variety that is grown primarily in South West France, and is part of the Manseng family. It produces dry wines in the Jurançon and Béarn regions of Southwest France...

, Petit Manseng

Petit Manseng

Petit Manseng is a white wine grape variety that is grown primarily in South West France. It produces the highest quality wine of any grape in the Manseng family. The name is derived from its small, thick skin berries. Coupled with the small yields of the grapevine, most Petit Manseng farmers...

 and Courbu

Courbu

Courbu is the name of three different, but related varieties of wine grapes primarily found in South West France. All are Vitis vinifera grapes. The name Courbu, without suffix, can refer to both Petit Courbu and Courbu Blanc, and not all sources differ between the two.- Petit Courbu :Petit Courbu...

. The sweet wines develop aromas of tropical fruit such as pineapple and mango. The vines are grown on steep mountain slopes and for the sweet wines the grapes are often hand selected well into October and November to ensure the best noble rot

Noble rot

Noble rot is the benevolent form of a grey fungus, Botrytis cinerea, affecting wine grapes. Infestation by Botrytis requires moist conditions, and if the weather stays wet, the malevolent form, "grey rot", can destroy crops of grapes...

 characteristics - although Tim Wildman MW states that noble rot is not the origin of sweetness in these wines.

Cultural references and marketing

The white wine varieties of Manseng were a favorite of the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 poet Colette

Colette

Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...

 who called the wine séduction du vert galant and was quoted "I was a girl when I met this prince; aroused, imperious, treacherous, as all great seducers are." Winemakers in Jurançon picked up on this endorsement and began touting the wines (reputed) viril

Virility

Virility refers to any of a wide range of masculine characteristics viewed positively. It is not applicable to women or to negative characteristics. The Oxford English Dictionary says virile is "marked by strength or force." Virility is commonly associated with vigour, health, sturdiness, and...

and puissant qualities in sales brochures and with posters that advertise "Manseng means Jurançon means Sex

Sex

In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...

".