Wine of the Week! 12/26/23

Vignerons du Sieur d’Arques Saint-Hilaire Blanquette de Limoux Brut

Normally $24.99 / On Sale for $18.96
(Mauzac, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc)

God bless what monks have done for the advancement of alcohol.

Way back in 1531, in Limoux — a tiny town in France’s southeast foothills of the Pyrenees — Benedictine monks at the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire inscribed the details of the production and distribution of their own sparkling wine. This document, by the way, was created 100 years before the invention of sparkling wine in Champagne. While today we think of Champagne as the king of bubbles, for centuries prior the wines of Limoux were renowned in France and England even after the monks, themselves, were gone.

Whereas Chardonnay is the white grape of choice for Champagne, the main grape for this sparkler is Mauzac, a grape that viticulturists think originated 60 miles north of Limoux in the Tarn Valley between the city of Toulouse and the town of Albi. The grape, however, takes its name from the town of Mauzac, just southwest of the proposed area of origin. Sporting aromas of green apple, today it is mainly grown in Gaillac and, of course, Limoux.

The Mauzac grape develops a white down on its vine leaves, thus earning the name "blanquette" or “little white” in the Occitan language. Blanquette de Limoux must contain at least 90 percent Mauzac with small percentages of Clairette, Chenin Blanc, and Chardonnay to soften it out. It was our very own Thomas Jefferson who discovered the wine for America. When he died, about 10% of the wine cellar at Monticello consisted of Blanquette de Limoux (and no Champagne! Prends ça!).

This bright, dry, delicious sparkler with green apple and pear notes, for a number of years now, has been our wine of choice to toast the turning of the Georgian calendar. Please enjoy it, once again, as our final white Wine of the Week before January comes.