Hautes Terres “Les (H)Autres Terres Blanc”, Chardonnay & Mauzac, 2021

This is a lovely unoaked chardonnay from Limoux, in the south of France with broad appeal. We’ve had several people (with very different tastes in wine) try it and all have said how much they like it. It’s also very versatile and goes with many different food options from cheese to roast chicken. Try it, it might become your “house wine”!

On the nose there’s citrus, green apple, honey and a touch of pineapple. On the palate there’s lots of lemon, lime, orange peel and green apple crispness. The Mauzac grape adds some additional acidity and weight leading to a well balanced wine with a longer finish than one might not expect from an unaged white wine.

Les Hautes Terres comes from the village of Roquetaillade in the upper valley of the Aude in the Limoux zone and is run by husband and wife team Genevieve & Gilles Azam. This is the foothills of the Pyrenees, climatically at the junction of the Atlantic and Mediterranean influences. The village nestles in a geological amphitheatre. Surrounded by hills on which either dry Mediterranean climate is found or moisture–rich woodlands from the Atlantic influence.  The soil is an ochre-coloured marly clay with sandstone containing plentiful fossils. The organically-farmed Chardonnay, Mauzac and Chenin Blanc vines are on north and north east facing slopes at between 450-600 metres, the better to preserve the natural acidity in the grapes. After cold settling the Chardonnay is fermented for a month in stainless tank before six months ageing in concrete vats. The malolactic is completed, the wine is bottled with a light filtration and a relatively low amount of sulphur added.