Grape Guide
Mauzac Blanc
WhiteMauzac Blanc is the white variety of south-west France behind Blanquette de Limoux and the leaner, savoury sparkling and still whites of Gaillac. Late ripening and high in acidity, it shows a baked-apple character when picked fully ripe, and its vineyard area has fallen steeply since the 1950s.
Key characteristics
- Berries are white; the pink Mauzac Rose arose as a colour mutation of it, whereas Mauzac Noir counts as a distinct variety in its own right
- Late ripening, with compact bunches, and best pruned short
- Does best on soils of limestone or limestone mixed with clay
- Vulnerable to phomopsis, eutypa dieback, mites and grape moths, yet largely unaffected by powdery or downy mildew
- At least 90% of Blanquette de Limoux and 100% of the Limoux Méthode Ancestrale
Typical flavors
Major regions
Gaillac (Tarn) · Limoux (Aude) · Blanquette de Limoux · Crémant de Limoux · Armagnac (minor permitted variety) · Napa Valley (minor)
Also known as
Blanc Laffite (Entre-Deux-Mers) · Gaillac or Plant de Gaillac (Gers) · Gamet Blanc (Aveyron) · Mausat (Languedoc) · Mauzac
Mauzac Blanc is tied almost entirely to two areas of south-west France: Gaillac, on the Tarn, and Limoux, in the upper Aude valley of the western Languedoc. It makes dry, medium-sweet and sparkling wines with firm acidity, a savoury and slightly grippy texture, and a flavour often compared to baked or dried apple skin, with quince, pear, hay and a waxy edge in older examples.
The signature flavour develops only in fully ripe fruit. Picking early to retain freshness, now common, gives leaner and more neutral wines. The grape suits sparkling production because its acidity holds up through long lees contact or a partial fermentation in bottle. Its appeal lies in a local, slightly rustic style rather than polished fruit, and its colour mutation Mauzac Rose is also permitted in Gaillac.
The home of Mauzac Blanc is the Gaillac district. A vine called "mausague" turns up in texts dated 1525 and 1564, but nothing indicates its colour or identity, so the earliest dependable record is a 1736 entry for "Mausat" in Languedoc, which describes white and black forms with round, crisp berries. The name may trace to one of two places: the village of Mauzac in Haute-Garonne, south-west of Toulouse, or Meauzac, close to Moissac in Tarn-et-Garonne, north of that city.
Nobody has settled its parentage. Négret Castrais, a local Tarn variety no longer in cultivation, may be related as parent or offspring, but which way the link runs and who the second parent was remain unknown. Mauzac Blanc is not a colour sport derived from Mauzac Noir; that is a separate variety, and how the two relate is unclear. Inside the family, Mauzac Rose is a pink-berried mutation of the white variety, while the scarcer Mauzac Vert, Roux and Jaune persist in very small amounts.
According to tradition, monks at the abbey of Saint-Hilaire, near Limoux, made the first naturally sparkling Blanquette in the sixteenth century. The variety later lost ground to others: French plantings fell from about 8,500 ha in 1958 to about 2,000 ha around 2009, and to roughly 1,600 ha by 2018. From the late 1980s, interest revived, led by Robert Plageoles in Gaillac, which slowed the decline without reversing it.
Mauzac Blanc carries its fruit in compact bunches and ripens late, so a long, warm autumn is needed for full flavour; in Limoux the harvest traditionally ran well into the cooler part of the season. Short pruning suits it best, and it performs well on soils of limestone or limestone mixed with clay. The vine is prone to phomopsis, eutypa dieback, mites and grape moths, but powdery and downy mildew cause it little trouble, a benefit in the damp Tarn valley. Its late ripening restricts planting in cooler or wetter sites, which is one reason Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc have taken ground from it in Limoux, where harvesting earlier for freshness also strips the variety of its typical flavour.
Mauzac is made in four main ways. In Limoux, Blanquette de Limoux is a traditional-method sparkling wine that must be at least 90 percent Mauzac, with Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc permitted for the remainder. The Limoux ancestral method (Méthode Ancestrale) uses Mauzac Blanc alone: the juice goes into bottle before the first fermentation has finished, producing a lightly sparkling, slightly cloudy, medium-sweet wine of low alcohol. Crémant de Limoux is led by Chardonnay, with Chenin Blanc, Mauzac and Pinot Noir in supporting roles, so Mauzac is a minor component. In Gaillac, Mauzac is among the principal varieties of still and sparkling whites, usually blended alongside Muscadelle and Len de l'El, and the local ancestral wines must be made entirely from Mauzac (Blanc or Rose). Plageoles also bottles several members of the Mauzac family (including Mauzac Roux and Mauzac Vert) as separate wines.
Where it grows
Gaillac
The variety's home. Mauzac is one of the main grapes for the white wines, often blended alongside Muscadelle and Len de l'El, and the sparkling Méthode Ancestrale wines made entirely from Mauzac are a local specialty. Domaine Robert et Bernard Plageoles is the leading estate, and Domaine de Causse Marines also works with the grape.
Limoux
The backbone of Blanquette de Limoux (at least 90 percent) and the only grape in the Limoux Méthode Ancestrale. In the still wines and in Crémant de Limoux its role has shrunk as Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc have gained area. Château Rives-Blancs is among the producers who work with the grape.
Armagnac
Mauzac Blanc and its colour mutation Mauzac Rose are both among the ten varieties authorised for Armagnac, though they are minor there.
California
The sparkling-wine house Schramsberg in the Napa Valley has planted a small area, one of very few plantings outside France.