Editing Mauzac (grape) (section)

{{Short description|Variety of grape}}
{{About|the white grape|the red grape|Mauzac noir}}
{{Infobox grape variety
| name            = Mauzac
| color           = Blanc
| image           = Mauzac Viala et Vermorel.jpg
| caption         = Mauzac in Viala & Vermorel
| species         = ''[[Vitis vinifera]]''
| also_called     = Blanquette [[#Synonyms|et cetera]]
| origin          = [[South West France (wine region)|South West France]]
| regions         = [[Gaillac AOC|Gaillac]], [[Limoux wine|Limoux]]
| notable_wines   = [[Blanquette de Limoux]]
}}

'''Mauzac''' or '''Mauzac blanc''' is a white [[variety (botany)|variety]] of [[grape]] used for [[wine]], of the species ''[[Vitis vinifera]]''. It is mainly grown in the [[Gaillac AOC|Gaillac]] and [[Limoux wine|Limoux]] regions in southwest [[France]]. Total French plantations of Mauzac stood at {{convert|3200|ha}} in the year 2000.<ref name=OCW-mauzac>{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Jancis Robinson |editor-link=Jancis Robinson |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Companion to Wine]] |edition=Third |title=Mauzac |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-860990-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00janc/page/431 431] |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00janc/page/431 }}</ref>

Gaillac's aromatic [[wine]]s are blended with [[Len de l'El]] to create mildly sweet and sparkling white blended wines. Since the late 1980s, some Gaillac producers have created an interest in Mauzac by producing better wines. In Limoux, Mauzac is a compulsory part of the [[Limoux wine|Blanquette de Limoux]], where it may be blended with [[Chenin blanc]] and [[Chardonnay]]. However, in Limoux, plantations of Mauzac are decreasing as it is losing ground to Chardonnay.<ref name=OCW-mauzac/> The grape is also one of the seven permitted white varieties in [[Bordeaux wine]].<ref>{{cite web |last= Anson |first= Jane, ''Decanter.com'' |title= Petit Verdot on the rise in Bordeaux |url= http://www.decanter.com/news/140404.html |date= August 31, 2007 |access-date= August 7, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090418004711/http://www.decanter.com/news/140404.html |archive-date= April 18, 2009  }}</ref>

Mauzac buds and ripens late, and was traditionally picked quite late, when temperatures had dropped in Limoux. This allowed for slow fermentation  preserving residual sugar for a "natural" second fermentation in the spring, creating a sparkling wine. Today, it is more common to pick Mauzac earlier, giving a more crisp wine with higher acidity, but also without much of its particular aromas.<ref name=OCW-mauzac/>