Malcolm Jolley suggests a sparkling rosé and talks to Françoise Antech-Gazeau who made it…
The sparkling winemakers of Limoux have a credible claim of being the first to trap bubbles in wine. No one is more passionate about that claim than winemaker Françoise Antech-Gazeau, who makes several kinds of sparkling wine at her family’s house, Antech. Pronounced properly, Antech rhymes with fresh, which is not a bad way to begin to describe her wines, not least the 2017 Antech Émotion Brut Rosé Cremant de Limoux, which will be released tomorrow, December 7 at the LCBO Vintages program for a very reasonable $19.95 (click here to find at lcbo.com). It’s a lovely and fun wine with big forest fruit flavour and fine bubbles; a perfect antidote to grey December skies and a great way to start a party. The wine is made ‘traditionally’ and from traditional French sparkling grapes Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but it’s also made with Chenin Blanc and Mauzac, indigenous to Limoux and the Southwest.
I met Françoise Antech-Gazeau in Toronto recently at a lunch hosted by her importer, Noble Estates. we tasted the Émotion Rosé and five other sparkling wines including her bone dry Blanquette Brut Nature, made without dosage with 90% Mauzac. After lunch, we sat down for the brief interview below to talk about Antech, Limoux and Mauzac.
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