Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise
| Wine region | |
 |
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| Official name | Beaumes de Venise AOC |
|---|---|
| Type | Appellation d'origine contrôlé |
| Year established | Muscat 1943; cru 2005 |
| Years of wine industry | 2,000 |
| Country | France |
| Part of | Rhône Valley |
| Climate region | mediterranea |
| Soil conditions | north: sandy loam; south: argilo-calcerous |
| Size of planted vineyards | Muscat 503; cru: 541 |
| No. of vineyards | ca.100 |
| Wine produced | red; fortified |
| Official designation(s) | natural sweet wine (VDN) |
| Comments | ha: hectares, hl: hectolitres, hl/ha: hectolitres per hectare |
Beaumes de Venise is an appellation of wines from the eastern central region of the southern half of the Rhône Valley. It produces wines of two distinctly different types:
1. A sweet fortified wine of the type vin doux naturel (VDN), under the designation Muscat de Beaumes de Venise.
2. A red Côtes du Rhône Villages from the classification of named villages, which typifies the quality wines of the Côtes du Rhône region.
The vines are grown on the slopes around the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail, a vertical comb of rock jutting out of the plain between the Rhône river and the Luberon-Ventoux mountains. Beaumes is famed for its natural fortified wine made from the Muscat grape, and records of its use go back almost two millennia. More recently it is also the producer of a high quality red wine. In 1943 the natural Sweet Beaumes de Venise Muscat was accorded its appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), to be followed in 1956 by an AOC for its Côtes du Rhône. The red, white and rosé wines were elevated to the appellation of Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC (named villages) in 1978, and in 2005 the greatest honor of all was bestowed on the region when Beaumes de Venise rouge and the sweet fortified wine Muscat de Beaumes de Venise became a cru - the highest order of the wines in the Rhône Valley. Today, over 100 producers including fifteen domaines and a cooperative winery combine their efforts to maintain the highest standards and the centuries-old reputation of the town and its wines.
Nearly two thousand years ago, Pliny the Elder wrote in his Natural History: "The Muscat grape has been grown for a long time in Beaumes and its wine is remarkable".
In 1248, St. Louis took supplies of it with him on his 7th Crusade, and during the early 14th century, at the time of the reign of Pope Clement V, production was increased by 70 hectares to cater for the demand from the Popes' Palace in Avignon.
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Wikipedia