Day one on our trip first took us to the beautiful village of Cordes Sur Ciel. This was described to us by Jean-Sebastien Robicquet, the master distiller of CIROC vodka, as the “pretty tourist village next to [the town of] Gaillac”. It certainly was.

Only a five minute drive down the road we found the winery that contributes the Mauzac Blanc part of CIROC’s grape makeup. CIROC is a super-premium grape vodka made in France. Grapes give the liquid a unique fresh characteristic that is not usually found in grain based spirits.

Only around 10% of CIROC is made from the Mauzac Blanc grape, the remaining 90% is from Ugni Blanc grape, also used in Cognac production (more of this later). Jean-Sebastien likens the Ugni Blanc to a “blank canvas upon which the Mauzac can be painted”. I’m feeling a little romantic, so I would take it one step further by saying that the Ugni Blanc is like the pages of a book and the Mauzac Blanc is like the words. Jean-Sebastien can control exactly what those words say by manipulating the processing, fermentation and blending of the Mauzac Blanc.

This is not simply a case of doing the same thing year in-year out. Chosing the right time to harvest, the length of maceration and distillation are all-important factors to consider. Global warming is becoming a more and more of an issue. Increasing temperatures mean that grapes ripen more quickly and sugar levels are concentrated. The quantity of sugar in the grape is of huge significance, not just for the alcohol yield, but also the residual flavours and essence that is extracted from the fruit.

We got to take a look around the winery, from grape crushers, to maceration vats, to fermentation vessels and cold storage silos.

Much of the machinery is not in operation this time of year. This is because harvest occurs in September/October and freshly picked grapes need to be processed quickly to retain all the goodness.

We were lucky enough to do a tasting of three expressions of the Mauzac Blanc variety. As a dry white table wine, a sweet desert wine and a sparkling wine. It was very interesting to see how versatile the grape actually is, especially as a late harvested grape in the sweet pudding wine.

Next stop: Cognac, to see where the Ugni Blanc grows!

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