France’s leading monthly wine publication, La Revue du Vin de France published the results of its nationwide tasting of the 2008 vintage in its June 2009 issue.
Of the top fifteen white wines from the Languedoc, four were from Limoux – an astonishing result for an appellation that produces only 500,000 bottles in total. These were Rives-Blanques, Mouscaillo, Sieur d’Arques and Abbotts, in that order.
The wine from Rives-Blanques is its Cuvée Occitania, made from 100% mauzac, an historic grape variety of the region.
« Bon volume pour ce mauzac au fruit croquant, ample, pur et frais, très belle vivacité, c’est savoureux, très bien construit. Un blanc nerveux et séduisant » they wrote.
In the accompanying editorial, RVF singled out “the luminous region de Limoux” for its “particularly successful wines”, which continue to reach “very high standards indeed”.
They also observed that the white wines from the Languedoc are generally very reasonably priced. It is absolutely impossible to make quality wines like these at a lower price”, they said.