Entraygues - Le Fel is a small appellation for red, white and rosé wines made along the banks of the Lot river in the Aveyron department of South West France. The hilly, river-crossed terroir in this small vineyard area is well suited to the Fer Souvadou grape variety, which makes a rich, vibrant red wine with distinctive black fruit characters.
The vineyard zone of this little-known AOC covers land in eight communes between the villages of Le Fel and Entraygues-sur-Truyere. Here, the very eastern foothills of the Massif Central mountain range have been cut through by numerous rivers (most of them tributaries of the Lot) and the result is a range of steep valleys. Vineyards are usually found on terraced, south-facing slopes in these valleys, where sunlight exposure and shelter from winds create excellent mesoclimates for viticulture.
Broadly speaking, the Entraygues - Le Fel vineyard zone has a continental climate with cold winters and warm summers, although the east-west orientation of the valleys allows some Mediterranean influences to seep in. Vineyards are often found at mid-slope at altitudes of around 1100ft (350m) above sea level, where there is less danger from the frosts that are felt higher on the hillside and in the valley below.
There is a variation of soil types throughout the area, with shale in the western reaches of the appellation zone giving way to more granitic soils in the east. These rocky soils have been cut into terraces, allowing for ease of harvest as well as preventing erosion in times of high rainfall.
Entraygues - Le Fel red wines are made predominantly from Fer Souvadou (as in the more famous vineyards of Marcillac to the south), although Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are permitted in the blend. While red wine dominates production, some rosé and white wines are also made – the latter from Chenin Blanc and Mauzac.
The first vines were planted in the upper valley of the Lot river by monks in the 6th Century. Viticulture continued for hundreds of years around Entraygues - Le Fel, as the Lot river was an important trade route, but the phylloxera crisis of the 19th Century almost wiped out the vineyards completely. The two world wars and a devastating frost in the 1950s dealt further blows and today Entraygues - Le Fel vineyards cover only 60 acres (20ha) of land.
