Gros Manseng

Gros Manseng is one of three grapes in the Manseng family.  Both Gros and Petit Manseng are white grapes; Manseng Noir is the red variety.  Petit Manseng is the most covetted of the three.  It obviously makes some fine white wine.  Manseng Noir has fallen out of favor and is consequently rarely planted nowadays. 

We're writing about Gros Manseng now because we got in a pretty good example of the type courtesy of Boutinot USA, one of the really neat importers providing us with good quality, everyday-priced wines.  UVA Non Grata means "unwanted grape" and it's the name attached to our Gros Manseng wine. It's a 100% varietal example, which is rare for this usual blending grape.  In case you are wondering, Gros Manseng is a Rodney Dangerfield type, it gets little respect in the business, hence, the Non Grata name.

Gros Manseng wine can be made into two styles depending on the harvest time.  If picked early is makes a crisp, floral, citrussy (lemony) light dry white.  If picked a couple weeks or more later, you can make a richer, more complex wine with a smorgasbord of tropical fruit flavors.  UVA leans more toward the latter.  It's a fruit bomb.

So if this is such an ordinary type, what's the point here?  UVA is for the customer who is curious about different wine types.  It's a good example of Gros Manseng AND it makes a $12.99 retail.  Case closed.  Think of it as a nice picnicky seafood/chicken salad accompaniment.  In a more macro sense, Gros means large and that applies to both the size of the berries AND the bunches, which means economically, this is a winner for the industry.  Not only that, it's an easy grower in the vineyard too!

Gros Manseng finds its French home in the southwestern (Basque) corner of the country where the geneticists think it originated.  It may be related to Spanish Albarino.  The Jurancon district is ground zero for Gros Manseng but most whites labeled IGP Cotes de Gascogne use it to flesh-out out the blend.

Think of it as late-summer porch sitting wine!