The talented Manseng family of grapes has lately welcomed back a long lost cousin. Manseng Noir was once recognized as a bit player in red wines from the Southwest regions of Bearn, Tursan, and Saint Mont. Then it went extinct. No one particularly noticed because wines from this rural part of France were and largely remain strictly local. However, when growers from the towns of Plaisance, Aignan, and Saint Mont formed the Plaimont cooperative in the 1970s with the mission to revive the fortunes of the region, the Manseng Noir grape gained an advocate. It only had to wait thirty years for someone to find it in a disused vineyard. For nearly a decade the cooperative slowly replanted the vine and made experimental batches of wine to re-learn the grape’s character. This mesmerizing, elegant Cotes de Gascogne is the fruit of their effort: Aromas of crushed black cherries give way to the whole spice cabinet, oregano, sage, rosemary and thyme. There’s notes of tomato leaf and underbrush and roses too. The palate offers a short, firm tannic handshake paired with fresh acidity and dewey black plum and cassis before a purple bouquet of lilac and lavender on the finish.