NV L'Conti Limoux, France 'Methode Traditionnelle' Brut Sparkling Wine

You could be excused if your initial reaction to “Mauzac” is a big question mark. Grown mainly in the Limoux and Gaillac districts in southwest France, it’s best known as the main component in Blanquette de Limoux, a sparkling wine that traces its roots back more than 50 years before the birth of its much more famous counterpart to the north, Champagne.

Mauzac's pioneering fizz can be credited to the monks of the Abbey of St-Hilaire in Limoux. In the early 1500s, it wasn’t unusual for the fermentation process to stall during the fall. So the monks would bottle the half-fermented juice. But come spring, the yeasts would reawaken and begin feeding off residual grape sugars, producing the carbon dioxide responsible for sparkling wine’s bubbles.

It’s handled more scientifically today, although the process is amazingly similar. And L’Conti’s Mauzac-based Blanquette de Limoux is a bubbly wine that’s a delight to drink.