Soft-bubbled and orchard-fresh, rounder and gentler than champagne
Ageing
1–4 years; drink it young and lively
Serving
6–8 °C
By the written record, sparkling wine begins here. In 1531 the Benedictine monks of Saint-Hilaire, in the hills above Limoux, were producing a wine that bubbled in its flask — a full century before Champagne learned to sparkle on purpose. The claim is kept carefully polished, and the price kept carefully modest.
The grape is Mauzac, nine-tenths of the blend by rule, with its unmistakable scent of apple skin under a gentle mousse; a little Chardonnay and Chenin add their sharper lines. The méthode ancestrale version goes further back still: a single fermentation, begun in tank and finished in the bottle, the way the monks' wine must first have caught its sparkle.