Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Chardonnay
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A reassuring return to form after a lesser 2017, the 2018 Limoux Chardonnay combines classy notes of pencil shavings with hints of toasted hazelnut and white peaches on the nose. It's medium-bodied, poised and elegant, with just enough custardy richness and generosity to balance the ripe, mouthwatering acids that linger refreshingly on the finish.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
While Limoux also produces both white and red wines, it is ultimately recognized as a sparkling wine zone. Blanquette de Limoux is the region’s original sparkler, which is based on Mauzac with small amounts of Chardonnay and/or Chenin Blanc. The more rustic and traditional version, Blanquette Méthode Ancestrale, is an often cloudy and sweeter sparkling wine made exclusively from Mauzac.
In the 1990s, the region created the more modern, Crémant de Limoux, for international markets.