Limoux is located on the Aude River in south-central France, just south of the walled city of Carcassonne, Limoux is a pretty little town with a mixture of ancient, Medieval and modern architecture. Home to around 10,000 residents, Limoux is best known for the wines produced in the area as well as the winter carnival.
A little about wine and Limoux
Limoux residents (and many wine historians) maintain that the region surrounding the city was the first to produce sparkling wine, well before Dom Perignon discovered the process in the Champagne region. One version of the story even has Fr. Perignon stealing the secret of the process during a visit to the region, but that is considered less likely by most historians. The primary grape grown in the Limoux wine region is Mauzac, a late-ripening white wine grape with a slight apple flavor that pretty much only thrives in this one small section of France. Mauzac is the primary (and required) ingredient in the area's sparkling wine, "Blanquette de Limoux." To make this wine, winemakers blend the juice of the Mauzac grape with that of Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay grapes. However, Mauzac grapes must, by law, constitute at least 90 percent of the wine's volume. In addition to the sparkling Blanquette de Limoux, the Limoux AOC (the government-designed growing region) crafts a number of still, white wines using the Mauzac grape as well as some notable Merlot wines.