Beyond Bubbles: Domaine Begude's Stunning Still Wines of Limoux
This week, I wanted to shine a light on a winery Old World has been supporting for a long time now in Colorado - one that continues to offer tremendous value year after year: Domaine Begude.
Tucked within the eastern foothills of the Pyrenees south of Carcassone in the Languedoc-Rousillon, Limoux has been an active winemaking village for centuries. Their higher, drier, relatively cooler climate has long been revered for the quality of grapes they can grow for sparkling wine production, a practice they are thought to have discovered at the abbey in Saint Hilaire in the early 16th century — predating Champagne. But with changing tastes, warming climates, and an insatiable thirst for Chardonnay in the 80s followed by Pinot craze in the early 20thc, the plantings and styles began to evolve a bit. While they are still known for their chief sparkling appellations: Cremant de Limoux and Blanquette de Limoux, they also have grown popular for really well made (and priced) still wines — some of which even bear the more newly formed still AOC: Limoux. You will find an array of varieties here, but the chief drivers are: Mauzac, Chardonnay, Chenin, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Merlot.
James Kinglake and his wife Catherine saw incredible opportunity and a much needed escape from the bustling rat race of finance in London. In 2003, they made their break and moved down south. They sit at about 300m facing S/E on a mixture of clay and limestone (sound like a good recipe for Burgundian grapes?). They enjoy a Mediterranean climate but with greater effects from the Atlantic than other regions in the Languedoc, hence the longer, cooler ripening season overall allowing for better acid development for the styles they aim to achieve.
A former rugby player, James is a warm, social creature who works hard and has a healthy amount of competitive spirit and pride — he naturally threw everything he had into building it well — from gaining counsel on proper rootstocks and cultivars to best approaches in farming. It was clear from the start that organic viticulture was the way to better quality and healthier vines. They were certified organic (Ecocert) in 2010 and continue to incorporate practices such as natural composting (80% from sheep, the rest from grape and olive pulp), weed killing by hand or mechanically, and natural combatants to pest, mildew, and disease.
Jancis Robinson MW, a friend and fellow Brit, has commented on their wines for years, always complementing them on the amazing value they present to the consumer (Begude’s website boasting her words that they ’sweep the boards’ with their Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs).
What we have in stock currently: