11300 Cépie, France Tel+33 468 314 320 ∼ E-mail [email protected] ∼ www.rives-blanques.com

CONTACT Eric Vialade 0676 714118 BLANQUETTE DE LIMOUX 2011 Jan & Caryl Panman 0675513352 90% Mauzac 10%

Hand-harvested - 45 hl/ha yield Un-cloned 25 – 35 year old Mauzac vines sorted by hand and pressed within two hours of harvesting Separate vinification of each variety Fermented at 14°C in stainless steel vats followed by a second fermentation in the bottle. Residual sugar 4 gm ; Alcohol: 12.5% Dégorgement: March 2013.

THE LABEL : The calligraphy on the label is borrowed from an early 16th century manuscript housed in the archives of Carcassonne, which shows that Blanquette was twice the price of a non-sparkling at that time. This is the earliest written reference to any in the world.

HISTORY Whether by happy accident, or divine intervention, the world’s first sparkling brut was discovered by the Benedictine monks in Limoux around 1531, in the vicinity of this vineyard. Although described as “the least known, well-made sparkling wine in France” by Robert Parker, it enjoyed great popularity in the 19 th century, and was a favourite of Thomas Jefferson and the Czars of Russia alike. Today it features as a central figure in the much- loved films and novels of the popular French writer Nicole de Buron.

Blanquette is one of the first appellations in France, and the oldest in Languedoc-Roussillon. It has the lowest permitted maximum yield of any sparkling wine in France. Mauzac is an indigenous grape with an acidity ideal for sparkling . (“Blanquette” is the Occitan word for the fine white down which forms on the underside of the mauzac leaves, and is the traditional name for the mauzac grape.)

THE HARVEST : The 2011 vintage was one of the most interesting and challenging we have experienced, calling for immediate and reactive decisions. Its capricious temperament was already evident in the spring, when the first two weeks of April were the hottest in decades, pushing the vines into early flowering. This was followed by an unusually cool summer. A torrential downpour of 120 mm on the eve of the harvest in early September complicated matters further. We were able to adapt to the challenging and changing conditions of the harvest as they presented themselves, thanks to the flexibillity of our trusted and familiar network of harvesters. The mauzac for this Blanquette was picked by hand on 11, 12 September.

THE VINEYARD • 22 hectares : (guyot), mauzac (gobelet) chenin blanc, sauvignon blanc (cordon de royat) • Terroir Mediterranée in name, but Océanique in nature. • On a plateau nearly 350 m. over the Aude Valley, ideal for fresh white wines. • Ground soils of clay and sand, silt, glacial moraine and pebbles. • Grapes harvested by hand and grown under the edict of Agriculture Raisonnée. • State-of-the-art pneumatic Vaslin-Bucher press - All wines bottled on the estate

Rives-Blanques has long been known for its ecologically responsible viticulture and was amongst the first in France to be officially recognised for its sustainable viticulture ‘ Agriculture Raisonnée’.