Petit Manseng

The grape was born in Sud-Ouest -- southwest France -- but today we're taking a pleasant trip to Virginia to enjoy wines made from Petit Manseng. We had planned to fly, but with the nearest airport to our destination being Charlottesville-Albemarle (CHO if you ever need the code), we decided to take the lovely drive. 

Heading north through Chattanooga and then somewhat east as well as north through Pigeon Forge (making a stop at Dollywood) on I-75 through Knoxville, and then continuing northeast on I-81 through a variety of national forests, it was a long drive (about 8 hours in total), but oh so relaxing. Ending our drive by meandering through the hills of West Virginia before finally leaving the road and parking in Albemarle County, the home of the University of Virginia, built, of course, by Thomas Jefferson.

Here, we are in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The weather in the growing season is extremely humid. They cannot grow the grapes traditionally grown in the western US as they thrive in dry climates, but a little white wine grape called Petit Manseng flourishes. 

One of the keys to Petit Manseng is that it grows in loose and frankly small clusters. That the grapes are somewhat spaced from each other allows them to survive, and in fact, flourish, in the hot, humid, and often rainy summers of the area.

While Petit Manseng can be produced as a traditional dry wine, today we are sampling the sweeter version. Left on the vine until the grapes have overripened and begun to shrivel, the natural sugars are brought out and even as the wine is poured for us, we can see the viscosity and expect the soft mouth feel.

On the nose, this wine is loaded with apricot, nectarine, and pineapple, somewhat dwarfing subtle gardenia aromas. On the palate, we more of that fruit up front, but as the wine hits mid-palate, it emerges into traditional vanilla creme brulee.

Given the flavors, let's go ahead and use what we've learned to pair it. We're being served a trio of creme brulee each topped with small slices of the three fruits from the nose -- pineapple, apricot, and nectarine.

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