Summary
Sieur d'Arques in Limoux is the defining address of one of southern France's most unusual appellations. Founded in 1946, the cooperative unites around 205 grower families farming some 1,600 hectares between them, and produces above all sparkling wine: Blanquette de Limoux from the local Mauzac, Crémant de Limoux from Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, and the archaic méthode ancestrale. Limoux claims to be the cradle of sparkling wine – long before Champagne. Beyond the region, the house is also known for the Toques et Clochers auction.
History
Winegrowing in Limoux is ancient, and its sparkling wine history may be the oldest of all: tradition holds that the Benedictine monks of the abbey of Saint-Hilaire near Limoux found as early as 1531 that their bottled wine had begun to sparkle of its own accord. That would put Limoux more than a century ahead of Champagne – a claim the region still makes with confidence.
The modern story begins in 1946. After the Second World War the area's growers joined forces in a cooperative in order to vinify and market together. Sieur d'Arques – named after a historic noble family of the area – grew over the following decades into by far the largest producer of the appellation while also driving its qualitative development: the recognition of Crémant de Limoux as an appellation in its own right in 1990 and the upgrading of the still wines of AOC Limoux are closely bound up with the house's work.
Site & Terroir
Limoux lies in the Aude department, around 25 kilometres south of Carcassonne, where the plain gives way to the foothills of the Pyrenees. That makes the appellation a special case in the Languedoc: it is markedly cooler and damper than the Mediterranean coastal zone – precisely the conditions sparkling wine needs.
The appellation is divided into four climatically distinct terroir zones. The Méditerranéen sector in the east is the warmest, the Océanique in the west receives Atlantic moisture, the Autan area is shaped by the warm wind of the same name, and the Haute-Vallée in the south is the highest and coolest zone with the latest harvest. Sieur d'Arques uses these differences deliberately: the cool parcels supply the high-acid base wines for sparkling wine, the warmer ones the riper still wines.
Style & Philosophy
As a cooperative, Sieur d'Arques covers a broad spectrum – from affordable entry-level Crémant to ambitious single-parcel wines. All the classic sparkling wines are made by traditional bottle fermentation followed by lees ageing.
A speciality is the méthode ancestrale: the first fermentation is halted by cold and completed in the bottle, with no second fermentation and no dosage. The result is a light, off-dry, low-alcohol sparkling wine from pure Mauzac – probably the oldest sparkling wine method of all.
Among the still wines it is above all the barrel-fermented Chardonnay of AOC Limoux that has made a name for itself; it ranks among the most serious white wines of the Languedoc. Alongside it come red Limoux wines based on Merlot.
Famous vineyards & wines
- Blanquette de Limoux – at least 90 percent Mauzac, appley and fresh, the historic classic
- Blanquette méthode ancestrale – gently sweet, light, with a soft mousse
- Crémant de Limoux – Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc with Mauzac and Pinot Noir, finer and creamier in style
- Limoux Blanc – barrel-fermented Chardonnay, the flagship among the still wines
- Limoux Rouge – red wine with Merlot as the principal variety
- Toques et Clochers – the parcel selections auctioned each year
Awards
Sieur d'Arques is among the most decorated producers of the Languedoc and appears regularly at international competitions. Greater impact than individual medals, though, comes from Toques et Clochers: held every spring since the 1990s, the auction brings together top gastronomy, single-parcel wines and heritage conservation – the proceeds restore the church steeples of the villages around Limoux. It ranks as France's second-largest wine auction after the Hospices de Beaune and has done much to make the Limoux appellation known well beyond southern France.