Dry muscat from Sérignan winegrowers awarded the “best muscat in the world” medal

President Pierre Calmel and director Olivier Cabanis can be proud of their Muscat. Midi Libre – Laurent François

Les vendanges ont débuté dès l’Aube ce mardi 13 août. Midi Libre

The dry muscat of the cuvée "Lo Vielh" from the Vignerons de Sérignan cellar received the gold medal for the best muscat in the world. This prize rewards work undertaken for years and rare know-how in viticulture and winemaking in a cooperative cellar where the harvest began this Tuesday, August 13.

"I call it the Swiss army knife because you can drink it with almost anything, whether as an aperitif, with cheese, oysters, or melon…" says Pierre Calmel with a smile. This Tuesday at the end of the morning, after leaving the vines, the president of the Vignerons de Sérignan joined the sales cellar of the cellar. He is in heaven. With Olivier Cabanis, the director of the structure, they proudly present the dry Muscat from the Lo Vielh vintage. He has just received the gold medal for “best muscat in the world”.
A supreme reward for the flagship vintage of the Sérignan winegrowers: "It’is really a source of great pride for us because it rewards the work of the winegrowers and everything that is achieved in& ;nbsp;within the cellar, rejoices Pierre Calmel. This Muscat is now known and recognized throughout France!"

Lo Vielh (literally “the old” in Occitan) is also available in rosé (made from Aramon, a grape variety that has been brought back into fashion for about ten years) and in red (Carignan).

A long history

Dry muscat and the Sérignan cellar have a history that has lasted since 1935 and the creation of the cellar: “Lwhen we searched the archives, we saw that there was already muscat being produced, says Olivier Cabanis. It was especially in the 90s that Alain Tastavy, my predecessor, developed it in the form of dry muscat. It has also become, over the years, the best-selling product in the cellar."

50 000 bottles

50,000 bottles of Lo Vielh have been produced. It has also been awarded a gold medal at the general agricultural competition and at the national IGP competition. All these medals highlight rare know-how, whether in the vineyards or when, during the harvest (which began this Tuesday, August 13), the grapes arrive in the cellar. It was at this time that Olivier Cabanis, who is also an oenologist, worked with one of his peers, Joël Baconin: “We work together, explains the cellar director. First, there is a selection of all the muscats. There is a plot selection and an analysis of the grapes. The muscats are not all vinified at once. Then comes the classic vinification process.”

Before bottling, after a final tasting, the vats from which the 50,000 bottles will be drawn will be selected, i.e. approximately 350 hl out of the 1,500 hl produced: the rest is sold in bulk to merchants, mainly in France and Italy.

The harvest has begun!

This Tuesday, August 13, at dawn, it was the excitement on the side of the cooperative cellar of the winegrowers of Sérignan, where the harvests have begun: “We started with the pinots, specifies Olivier Cabanis, the director of the cellar.They are the ones that will make it possible to develop the rosés, “Les Étés”. This Wednesday 14th, it will be the Muscat Petit Grain.”

Then will come the Muscats of Alexandria, the Chardonnays that will make it possible to produce the sparkling wine cuvée, Les Orpellières, the Sauvignons…

For 26 to 28 days, the grape harvest will be in full swing for the 180 members of the winery, who cultivate 1,200 hectares in the communes of Sérignan, Vendres, Sauvian and Valras-Plage: “From what we can see in the vines, in quality it is very very good, specifies Pierre Calmel, the president of the Vignerons de Sérignan. It will, however, be average in quantity. This year, however, we hope to produce 80,000 hl.”

This represents the average annual production of the winery in recent years.

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