Limoux wine
Encyclopedia
Limoux
Limoux is a commune and subprefecture in the Aude department, a part of the ancient Languedoc province and the present-day Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France...
in Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
in southwestern France
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...
. Limoux 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...
is produced under four Appellation d'origine contrôlée
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...
(AOC) designations: Blanquette de Limoux, Blanquette méthode ancestrale, Crémant de Limoux and Limoux, the first three of which are sparkling wine
Sparkling wine
Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it making it fizzy. The carbon dioxide may result from natural fermentation, either in a bottle, as with the méthode champenoise, in a large tank designed to withstand the pressures involved , or as a result of carbon dioxide...
s and dominate the production around Limoux. The main grape of the region is the Mauzac
Mauzac (grape)
Mauzac or Mauzac Blanc a white variety of grape used for wine, of the species Vitis vinifera. It is mainly grown in the Gaillac and Limoux regions in the southwest of France. Total French plantations of Mauzac stood at in the year 2000....
, locally known as Blanquette, followed by Chardonnay
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...
and Chenin Blanc
Chenin Blanc
Chenin blanc , is a white wine grape variety from the Loire valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled...
. In 2005, the Limoux AOC was created to include red wine production consisting of mostly Merlot
Merlot
Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...
. Local wine historians believe that the world's first sparkling wine was produced in this region in 1531, by the monks at the abbey in Saint-Hilaire
Saint-Hilaire, Aude
Saint-Hilaire is a commune in the Aude department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France.-Geography:...
.
Climate and geography
The Limoux wine region is located in the eastern foothillsFoothills
Foothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills to the adjacent topographically high mountains.-Examples:...
of the Pyrénées
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
in southern France, south of the fortified city of Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
. The classified vineyards are all in the Aude
Aude
Aude is a department in south-central France named after the river Aude. The local council also calls the department "Cathar Country".Aude is also a frequent feminine French given name in Francophone countries, deriving initially from Aude or Oda, a wife of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, and mother...
département, in the general vicinity of Limoux
Limoux
Limoux is a commune and subprefecture in the Aude department, a part of the ancient Languedoc province and the present-day Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France...
, west of the Corbières hills. The climate is dominated by the strong winds of the region, the dry, Atlantic vent cers
Cers (wind)
The Cers, also called the Narbonnais by those who live southeast of Narbonne, is a very dry wind that is colder during the winter and warmer during the summer. Originating from moist Atlantic air-masses flowing across the Toulouse area, Cers become intensified through the Lauragais gap. They are...
and the warm, Mediterranean vent marin
Marin (wind)
The Marin is a warm, moist wind in the Gulf of Lion of France, blowing from the southeast or south-southeast onto the coast of Languedoc and Roussillon. It brings rain to this region which it has picked up crossing the Mediterranean, and also can bring coastal fog...
. The Mediterranean climate of the region has more Atlantic influences than other Languedoc wine
Languedoc wine
Languedoc - Roussillon wine, including the vin de pays labeled Vin de Pays d'Oc, is produced in southern France. While "Languedoc" can refer to a specific historic region of France and Northern Catalonia, usage since the 20th century has primarily referred to the northern part of the...
regions. The soil in the area is rocky with clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
, sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, creating distinct terroir
Terroir
Terroir comes from the word terre "land". It was originally a French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place bestowed upon particular varieties...
throughout the region depending on the degree of Mediterranean or Atlantic influences and clay composition in the soil.
The unique topography
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
of the region and combination of Mediterranean and Atlantic influences has created ideal conditions for the slow, even ripening of the region's white wine grapes. Despite being located at a southerly latitude, the climate is cooler and moister than in most of the wine regions in southern France. Its location in the foothills of the Pyrénées allows the vineyards to be at a higher elevation, and planted in optimal locations on hillsides.
History
Blanquette de Limoux is considered to be the first sparkling white wine produced in France
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...
, created long before the Champagne region became world renowned for the sparkling wine Champagne. The first textual mention of "blanquette", from the Occitan expression for "the small white", appeared in 1531 in papers written by Benedictine monks at an abbey in Saint-Hilaire. They detail the production and distribution of Saint-Hilaire's blanquette in cork-stoppered
Cork (material)
Cork is an impermeable, buoyant material, a prime-subset of bark tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber , which is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...
flasks. The region's location, north of the Cork Oak
Cork Oak
Quercus suber, commonly called the Cork Oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa.It grows to up to 20 m,...
forest of Cataluña, gave Limoux producers easy access to the material needed to produce secondary fermentation
Secondary fermentation
Secondary fermentation is a process commonly associated with winemaking, which entails a second period of fermentation in a different vessel than what was used when the fermentation process first started. An example of this would be starting fermentation in a carboy or stainless steel tank and then...
in the flask, which produces the bubbles
Sparkling wine production
There are four main methods of sparkling wine production. The first is simple injection of carbon dioxide , the process used in soft drinks, but this produces big bubbles that dissipate quickly in the glass. The second is the Metodo Italiano – Charmat process, in which the wine undergoes a...
necessary for sparkling wine.
Local lore suggests that Dom Pérignon
Dom Pérignon (person)
Dom Pierre Pérignon, O.S.B., was a French Benedictine monk who made important contributions to the production and quality of Champagne wine in an era when the region's wines were predominantly still and red...
invented sparkling white wine while serving in this Abbey before moving to the Champagne region and popularizing the drink, but this is almost certain to be false since Dom Pérignon was involved with improving Champagne's still wines, and not the sparkling ones.
In 1938, Blanquette de Limoux became the first AOC established in the Languedoc region. While the classification is recent, the wine itself has long been a traditional apéritif
Aperitif
Apéritifs and digestifs are alcoholic drinks that are normally served with meals.-Apéritifs:An apéritif is usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite. This contrasts with digestifs, which are served after a meal for the purpose of aiding digestion...
or dessert accompaniment in the area.
In recent decades, appellation rules have been relaxed to allow an increased use of international grape varieties, which have partially replaced Mauzac.
Grapes
The main grape of the Limoux region is the Mauzac grape, which produces a rustic wine with a characteristic appleApple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
-peel flavor that can be reminiscent of sweet apple cider
Apple cider
Apple cider is the name used in the United States and parts of Canada for an unfiltered, unsweetened, non-alcoholic beverage made from apples...
. The grape is declining in worldwide plantings, with Southwest France being one of the few places where Mauzac has a lasting presence. The use of Chardonnay and Chenin blanc is growing, due in part to the more internationally recognized flavors of both grapes. The 1980s saw an increase in the plantings and popularity of Chardonnay. Limoux winemakers began developing a unique style of still wines made from Chardonnay and fermented
Fermentation (wine)
The process of fermentation in wine turns grape juice into an alcoholic beverage. During fermentation, yeast interact with sugars in the juice to create ethanol, commonly known as ethyl alcohol, and carbon dioxide...
in oak barrels that were sold as Vin de pays
Vin de pays
Vin de pays is a French term meaning "country wine". Vins de pays are a step in the French wine classification which is above the table wine classification, but below the VDQS and Appellation d'origine contrôlée classifications...
. The reputation of these Chardonnay wines grew to where they are regarded as some of the best examples of French Chardonnay outside of Burgundy
Burgundy wine
Burgundy wine is wine made in the Burgundy region in eastern France, in the valleys and slopes west of the Saône River, a tributary of the Rhône. The most famous wines produced here - those commonly referred to as "Burgundies" - are red wines made from Pinot Noir grapes or white wines made from...
. Barrel samplings were featured at the yearly Toques et Clochers charity auction that was modeled after the famous Hospices de Beaune
Hospices de Beaune
The Hospices de Beaune or Hôtel-Dieu de Beaune is a former charitable almshouse in Beaune, France. It was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of Burgundy, as a hospital for the poor and needy. The original hospital building, the Hôtel-Dieu, one of the finest examples of French...
. Prices of these Vins de pays soon exceeded what the French authorities thought was appropriate for this low classification and in 1993, the Limoux AOC was revised to include the still wines made from Chardonnay. While made mostly of Chardonnay, these wines are permitted to include Chenin blanc and must include a minimum of 15% Mauzac.
The red wines of the Limoux AOC are composed of at least 50% Merlot with Carignan, Grenache
Grenache
Grenache is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry conditions such as those found in Spain, the south of France, and California's San Joaquin Valley. It is generally spicy, berry-flavored and soft on the palate with a relatively...
, Malbec
Malbec
Malbec is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are long known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine. The French plantations of Malbec are now found primarily in Cahors in the South West...
(known locally as Côt) and Syrah making up at least 30% of the blend. Carignan itself is limited to a maximum of 10% as a component from the 2010 vintage. Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...
and Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...
are also grown in the area and are restricted to a maximum of 20% together in red Limoux AOC wines. They are however also used in the Vin de pays wines sold as Vin de pays de la Haute Vallée de l'Aude.
Blanquette de Limoux
The name Blanquette de Limoux has been used for a long time for the sparkling wines from Limoux. "Blanquette" actually just means "white" in the local Occitan language. Blanquette de Limoux can contain three grape varieties: Mauzac which must constitute a minimum of 90% of the wine, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. Prior to the 1990 introduction of the Crémant de Limoux AOC, the use of Mauzac was optional. The change to the mandatory minimum of 90% Mauzac in the AOC regulations of Blanquette de Limoux was seen as a safeguard in maintaining the traditional style of Blanquette de Limoux and preserving the use of the local Mauzac grape which is declining in worldwide plantings. The taste of this Mauzac based wine is unique, with apple flavors and distinctive aromas of fresh cut grass that can be identified in blind tastings. Wine writer Tom StevensonTom Stevenson
Tom Stevenson is a British author who has been writing about wine for more than 30 years. Described by his colleagues as one of today’s most prolific wine authors, Stevenson is regarded as the world’s leading authority on Champagne...
notes a change in the profile of recent vintage
Vintage
Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...
with wines that are "developing finer, more flowery, autolytic
Autolysis (wine)
Autolysis in winemaking relates to the complex chemical reactions that take place when a wine spends time in contact with the lees, or dead yeast cells, after fermentation. While for some wines autolysis is undesirable, it is a vital component in shaping the flavors and mouth feel associated with...
aromas."
Vinification
The grape varieties are vinified separately before being assembled and bottled. Just before bottling, a tirage is added to the blend so that a second fermentation will take place in the bottle. The carbon dioxide produced during this second fermentation is trapped in the bottle and gives the wine its effervescence. After nine months, the bottles are opened and disgorged before a final corking.Blanquette méthode ancestrale
The wine that the monks of St-Hilaire invented in 1531 was known as Vin de Blanquette and the méthode rurale wine became a separate AOC known as Blanquette méthode ancestrale. Today this AOC is used for a sweetish sparkling wine made in a more old-fashioned way, without disgorgement. It is produced in the same area as Blanquette de Limoux, and may only contain Mauzac. Due to the absence of disgorgement, these wines are generally very cloudy with particles of the sediment of dead yeastYeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
cells, known as lees
Lees (fermentation)
Lees refers to deposits of dead yeast or residual yeast and other particles that precipitate, or are carried by the action of "fining", to the bottom of a vat of wine after fermentation and ageing. The yeast deposits in beer brewing are known as trub...
, still present in the wine. The winemaking method used to make Blanquette méthode ancestrale is also known as the méthode gaillacoise and is used to make the sparkling Mousseux wine of the Gaillac AOC
Gaillac AOC
Gaillac AOC is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée in South West France in the département of Tarn, just north of Toulouse.-History:...
. This method involves traditional hand crafted winemaking, with minimum use of modern technology such as stainless steel fermentation tanks. The resulting wines are typically low in alcohol (often less than 7% by volume), with sweet apple-like flavors and a slight sparkling fizz.
Bottling of this wine traditionally occurred on a day of astrological significance.
Crémant de Limoux
Appellation
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown; other types of food often have appellations as well...
of Crémant de Limoux was introduced to allow the producers to make whichever style of sparkling wine that they preferred and still sell it under an AOC designation. A deadline was set in 1994 for the least used AOC designation to be phased out but the deadline passed without Crémant de Limoux or Blanquette de Limoux making significant progress and both AOC continue to co-exist today. These Crémant de Limoux wines differ primarily from Blanquette de Limoux in their grape composition with Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc as the main varieties. Together they are not to exceed 90% of the wines. For Chenin blanc, a minimum of 20% and a maximum of 40% must be used. Mauzac and Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir
Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
are accessory grape varieties and may not exceed 20% together with Pinot Noir itself not exceeding 10%. Thus, Crémant de Limoux contains 40-70% Chardonnay, 20-40% Chenin Blanc, 10-20% Mauzac and 0-10% Pinot Noir. AOC regulations dictate that the wine be aged for a least a year on the lees prior to disgorgement. Over 40 villages around the city of Limoux are permitted to make Crémant de Limoux.
Limoux
Prior to 1993, the only non-sparkling still wine that Limoux producers could make under an AOC designation was Mauzac. The growing popularity and high prices of Vin de pays still wines made from Chardonnays prompted the French authorities to revise the Limoux appellation. VarietalVarietal
"Varietal" describes wines made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label. Examples of grape varieties commonly used in varietal wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot...
versions of Chardonnay and Chenin blanc were permitted but all white wines were required to contain a minimum 15% of Mauzac. European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
regulations dictate that a varietal wine must contain at least 85% of the variety listed on the wine label
Wine label
Wine labels are important sources of information for consumers since they tell the type and origin of the wine. The label is often the only resource a buyer has for evaluating the wine before purchasing it...
so most Limoux AOC white wines are typically two grape blends-85% of the main variety, like Chardonnay, and 15% Mauzac. Producers that wished to make a 100% Chardonnay wine, or one without Mauzac, have to produce their wines as Vin de Pays d'Oc with E & J Gallo Winery
E & J Gallo Winery
E & J Gallo Winery was founded in 1933 by Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo in Modesto, California. E & J Gallo Winery is the largest exporter of California wines and is a large promoter of wines from Sonoma County.-History:...
's Red Bicyclette
Red Bicyclette
Red Bicyclette is a French wine produced by the Sieur d'Arques cooperative and distributed in the USA by the E. & J. Gallo Winery. Its distinctive label appeals to consumers who prefer branded wines, labelled with the variety of grape from which they are made, rather than by the exact location...
being one of the more notable examples being made primarily with Chardonnay grapes from the Limoux region. The Limoux AOC was the first AOC to regulate mandatory barrel fermentation for its white wine.
The appellation was approved for the production of red varietal wines starting with the 2003 vintage. These wines must contain a minimum of 50% Merlot with Grenache, Malbec and Syrah. Carignan is permitted at a maximum of 10% of the blend until 2010 when the variety is expected to be phased out completely of Limoux production. All together there must be at least 3 grape varieties in the blend with no two single varieties exceeding 90% of the total blend. In recent years, the Limoux AOC has seen significant investment by negociants, cooperatives and larger French wine estates, like Baroness Philippine de Rothschild
Philippine de Rothschild
Baroness Philippine Mathilde Camille de Rothschild is the owner of the French winery Château Mouton Rothschild. She also has acted under the stage name Philippine Pascale....
of Château Mouton Rothschild
Château Mouton Rothschild
Château Mouton Rothschild is a wine estate located in the village of Pauillac in the Médoc, 50 km north-west of the city of Bordeaux, France. Its red wine of the same name is regarded as one of the world's greatest clarets. Originally known as Château Brane-Mouton it was renamed by Nathaniel...
, who see potential in the red wines from this traditionally sparkling white wine region.
Grape composition
The AOC specifies the following rules for the varietal composition for Limoux AOC wine:- White wine can be made from Mauzac, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, with a minimum of 15% Mauzac.
- Red wine can be made from Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Malbec (under the name Cot), Syrah and Carignan. The wine must be a blend containing a minimum of three varieties, with no two varieties together exceeding 90% of the blend. Furthermore, Merlot must make up a minium of 50%, Grenache, Malbec, Syrah and Carignan must together make up a minimum of 30%. However, from the 2010 harvest, Carignan may not exceed 10%.