Anyone had wine from this grape? If so, Id be curious to get your feedback on varietal character and quality.
The only 100% Petit Manseng wine I have had is from Tiger Mountain Vineyards in Tiger, Georgia. It is crisp and tangy with luscious green apple and greengage plum fruit. I have enjoyed it in several vintages.
From April 2003:
- Bru Bache Quintessence Jurancon (100% Petit Manseng) 1995: Med.gold color; intense grapey/
passitto bit botrytis/apple pie/spicy slight caramel nose w/ > loads of Manseng varietal character
quite sweet intense grapey/apple pie/spicy very passitto/caramel/creme brulee flavor; a
terrific passitto wine at a very good price. $27.54
The comment TFIC…as I am wont to do.
Tom
I tasted quite a bit of it in different blends last night at a VA wine tasting in Santa Rosa. Wineries said it was a French variety. They blended it with Muscat, Chardonnay, Viognier. Came across sweet. They said it was used to add acidity to the wines. It didn’t work. Maybe they should just acidify.
http://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1486075#p1486075
It is in the Sine Qua Non white mix now. I have never had it bottled alone or knowingly seen it outside of the SQN usage.
From Wikipedia: “The name is derived from its small, thick skin berries. Coupled with the small yields of the grapevine, most Petit Manseng farmers produce around 15 hl of wine per hectare.”
The manseng’s (there is a petit and a gros) are usually made into a sweeter wine similar to Sauternes in their native SW France, but I’ve had dry versions before that could be similar to a riper pinot gris. The acidity is not typically biting, so it tends to make a more luscious wine with a solid body to it.
I’ve had a few 100% Petit Mansengs from the Jurancon AOC (e.g. from Charles Hours, Domaine Bellegarde, Clos Lapeyre, Domaine Cauhapé) and from the Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh AOC (e.g. from Ch. Bouscassé). All of them were sweet. For dry whites, I’ve only ever seen cuvées of Petit Manseng with Gros Manseng and potentially also Petit Courbu. Sweet Petit Manseng wines are a real treat in my view. I’d say the most prominent aromatic characteristics are exotic fruit notes (mostly mango) and honey. The acidity is quite prominent which balances the sweetness. I always have some sweet Jurancons and Pacherencs in the cellar if I need a sweet white wine roughly in a Sauternes style, but without Botrytis notes.
Ornellaia makes a sweet wine from this variety.
Domaine des Cassagnoles Gros Manseng Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne is our house white. Not sweet at all but has good fruit. Only $10 at Binny’s. Consistent fron vintage to vintage.
Tablas Creek has some acreage planted to petit manseng and has bottled it.
I have had a number of them from VA and Juracon; dry, semi-sweet and sweet. It does hold acidity well, often times too well for dry wines. It grows so easy that I can’t help but wonder if its really being pursued as a quality wine grape or a cash flow grape. My Petit Manseng vines are on the third leaf so I should have a small harvest this year. Jim Law at Linden has some that he uses for a desert wine and he is usually very good about answering questions such as this. Also Jeff at Glen Manor grows some and makes both a sweet and semi-sweet from it and Jeff use to be on Berserkers but I have not noticed him here in a while.
We just had one at my last tasting dinner, the 2009 Chateau D’Aydie Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh. Very sweet, citrusy, some acidity and caramel notes. Very much comes off like a Tokaji late harvest. I have not had a dry version myself, but based on what I was tasting I agree it would come off more like a dry Pinot Gris or Furmint wine than a highly acidic one like Chenin Blanc or Riesling.
Adam Lee invited me to attend a Virginia Tasting of 12 producers last night in Santa Rosa where one of the wines contained Petit Manseng. I didn’t take any notes and will review the material more tonight. Yes, It was the first I had heard of it.
The one from Tiger in North GA is delicious. 100% petit manseng
See post 11 above. I have consumed several bottles of TC Petit M over the past two years. Kinds of the desert side of sweet wines but not a true desert wine.
Right now TC has bottled them in a 500ml format.
Petit Manseng is usually used for sweet wines, as it has searing acidity and can get to 30+ brix without problem. The dry wines are usually made from Gros Manseng, which is much less acidic.
Of course, being one to confront convention on occasion, I will be releasing a dry, 100% Petit Manseng this Fall. It’s a pretty geeky wine, if you like acidity. Reminds me of Muscadet on steroids.
The Churton Winery in the Waihopai Valleysub-region of Malborough made NZ’s first Petit Manseng in the 2012 vintage. Floral and sweet in a citrusy way with a piercing blast of acidity at the back end.
Churton is biodynamic winery run a couple. They make a tiny quantity of Petit Manseng, about 300 litres bottled in 500ml bottles. It is really a very cool and interesting wine.
Brodie
Please, no.
You don’t know what you’re missing, Gary.