Advertisement:
Advertisement:
Quick page jumps:
(Synonyms: Escriberou, Ichiriota Zuria Tipia, Mansein, Mansein Blanc, Manseing, Mansenc Blanc, Mansenc Grisroux, Manseng Blanc, Manseng Petit Blanc, Mansengou, Mansic, Mansin, Mausec, Mausenc Blanc, Miot, Petit Mansenc, Petit Manseng Blanc.)
Petit Manseng is a white-wine grape originating in southwest France; while it populates that entire region now, it is thought to have begun in Jurançon. It is generally considered one of the dozen and a half or so of world-class red-wine grapes (those in boldface in the varietals list to the left of the page), but almost entirely because of its role in the classic dessert-wine blends of the region. It is only rarely bottled as a monovarietal, or even dominating ingredient of a blend, except as sweet wine.
Petit Manseng grapes are naturally very high in sugar. If they are grown to anything like ripeness (as they must be for the wanted flavor), they simply cannot be vinified "dry", else their alcohol content would reach the 16% to 17% range. Thus, vinification is stopped when the alcohol is at an acceptable level, leaving substantial residual sugars and a wine that can only be a dessert wine (or a component of one), though it does have quite high acid levels (which help to partially neutralize the sensation of sweetness).
Petit Manseng is typically associated in such sweet wines with a few other regional-specialty grapes, notably the supposedly less "refined" Gros Manseng, Petit Courbo, and (in Pacherenc du Vic Bihl but not in Jurançon) Arrufiac. There are now plantings in the U.S. and Australia, whose winemakers are doubtless noticing the worldwide trend toward even more sweet wines, at least in mass consumption. At least some U.S. winemakers (the grape is especially popular in Virginia) now produce monovarietal bottlings, and some claim that the acid content leaves a sensory impression of less sweetness than their sugar content implies. (The relatively new "Jurançon sec" wines are typically mostly or entirely Gros Manseng.)
The flavor of Petit Manseng is typically described in the terms usual in wine writing for rich whites. Alphabetically: apricot, baked apples, baked pear, beeswax, brown sugar, cinnamon, citrus peel, green apple, honey, honeysuckle flower, lemon curd, lemon marmalade, melon, mint leaves, orange marmalade, pineapple, popcorn [sic], ripe grapefruit, roasted almonds, ruby grapefruit, walnuts, white peach, and last but not least the inevitable "touch of stony minerality". We reckon you get the idea. (Wouldn't you like to be a wine writer when you grow up? And learn the difference between just plain grapefruit in wine flavors and ruby grapefruit?) All of which can be summed in Isaac James Baker's terse but sufficient "zippy acid and gobs of tropical fruit".
Factoid: 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.
There are very, very few actually dry (not "almost seems dry") monovarietal Petit Mansengs available, especially in the U.S. In fact, we found only one that seems decent, reasonably available, and not super-priced.
In Virginia, where the Petit Manseng grape has been widely adopted, most bottlings are sweet, but there are increasingly numerous dry (supposedly) ones, too; the problem is that they are (1) scarce, often available only from the winery, and (2) not inexpensive. If you want so search them out, a few names to look at are Horton, Granite Heights, Stonewall Creek ("Boriana"), Glen Manor, Ingleside, Prince Michel ("Mount Juliet"), and Chateau O'Brien
The quotations below are excerpts; we strenuously urge you to click on the green diamond ♦ symbol by each quoted review to see the full article.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by 1000 Corks
• Retail offers of this wine listed by Wine Searcher
• This wine's CellarTracker review pages.
• This wine's Wine Searcher "Tasting Notes" page.
It's quite scarce and somewhat pricey, but it's also Hobson's Choice for an upscale dry Petit Manseng. It's the Dagueneau Les Jardins de Babylone Sec.
• That wine at 1000 Corks
• That wine at Wine Searcher
• Its Wine Searcher "Tasting Notes" page.
• Its CellarTracker pages.
Advertisement:
Advertisement:
|
|
This site is one of The Owlcroft Company family of web sites. Please click on the link (or the owl) to see a menu of our other diverse user-friendly, helpful sites. |
|
| (Note: All Owlcroft systems run on Ubuntu Linux and we heartily recommend it to everyone--click on the link for more information). | ||
|
All content copyright © 2019 The Owlcroft Company
(excepting quoted material, which is believed to be Fair Use). |
This web page is strictly compliant with the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) Protocol v1.0 (Transitional) and the W3C Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Protocol v3 — because we care about interoperability. Click on the logos below to test us!
This page was last modified on Friday, 6 December 2019, at 9:32 pm Pacific Time.
Some Descriptions of Petit Manseng Wines
"Petit Manseng has the potential to produce intensely flavored wines with high acidity, apricot and quince fruit along with spicy and floral notes. The time of harvest will play a large role in the type of wine that the grape will produce. When it is picked at a potential alcohol level of 11.5-12%, the resulting wine will have more delicate characteristics of fresh fruit and flowers. If picked later at a potential alcohol content of 12.5-13.5%, the flavors will be much more intense and powerful."
"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."
"Wines made from Petit Manseng were very aromatic and were of very high quality. Petit Manseng wines fit a particular niche market, I believe. Finished with some residual sugar, they make excellent dessert wines. Dry Petit Mansengs are sort of like dry Rieslings or dry Gewurztraminers - if you aren't certain where to serve the latter two, you might have the same dilemma with a dry Petit Manseng."
"It is very versatile. It offers a wonderful aroma of floral, citrus and tropical fruit. The taste will often suggest apricot and grapefruit, however when harvested late and made into a dessert wine there are honey notes. The acids are usually high enough to provide a crisp finish."
"Petit manseng's small berries and thick skins translate into bold tropical and floral aromas. On the palate, the wines frequently show zippy acid and gobs of tropical fruit."