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Petit Manseng

Petit Manseng Wine Details
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Description: The 2010 Tablas Creek Vineyard Petit Manseng is Tablas Creek’s first bottling of this traditional grape from southwest France. Petit Manseng is best known from appellation of Jurancon, where it has made admired but not widely disseminated sweet wines for centuries. Petit Manseng achieves sufficient concentration and sugar content to make naturally sweet wines without botrytis. This character was so valued that Petit Manseng is noted as the only wine used to baptize a king of France: Henry IV, the founder of the Bourbon dynasty, in his native Navarre.

Varietal Definition
Petit Manseng:
This white wine-producing grape is being grown on small acreages in Virginia, notably by Chrysallis Vineyards. The vine originates in the Jurancon region of southwestern France, where it is highly regarded. Wines made from this variety in the Jurancon are typically of exceptionally high quality and can be very aromatic. Aromas of the wines are suggestive of cinnamon, peaches and pineapple. The best and most famous wines from the region are the Jurancon Moelleux. These are sweet wines, which are made from the small thick grapes that have been left on the vine well into November in order to concentrate natural sugars. This coupled with the grapes' natural high acidity, creates the ideal combination for great dessert wine production. The vine's loose clusters, and the high pergola training it receives in the Jurancon, limits Petit Manseng's susceptibility to rot. This is ideal for production in the humid conditions of Virginia. Unfortunately, the vine also requires an extended growing season. Only areas where e


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