Gros Manseng is relatively unknown; its potential as a winemaking grape was unrecognised for years. Thick-skinned and wild, it was often blended away anonymously and held in lower regard than its parent, Petit Manseng. This Uva Non Grata Gros Manseng, Vin de France is a celebration of the varietal's character, creating a zingy, wine that is one of the fruitiest and most enjoyable you'll encounter but with an intriguing and delightful suggestion of incense-smoke. Enjoy as an apéritif, or to accompany pungent cheeses and aromatic Middle Eastern and Eastern cuisine.

About the Producer

Like all good stories, that of Boutinot France is both long and a little bit complicated! Boutinot began as a tiny importer in 1980, specialising in French wines. Paul Boutinot himself began by personally selecting the wines from France, back in the UK he would unload the trailer by hand. And deliver the crates of wines to customers himself. But good things grow and by the end of the decade they had become a bigger and better company. A company that not only sought out great wines but made them too. 10 years later, Boutinot France started in January 1990. The first office was in the middle of the vines in Julienas; perfectly located to navigate the Beaujolais and Macon regions on the quest to make beautiful wines..

Today, Boutinot’s French office has relocated to Macon, and has over 20 employees who take care of production across the whole of France, covering fresh whites and rosés from Gascony, mineral wines from Burgundy, and joyful varietal wines from Languedoc among others. There is no single model to source the wines; instead, a combination of sources are used, from large-scale, high-quality co-ops to small, family growers and single domaines, as well as their own vineyards in Cairanne and Saint-Vérand. Drawing on the expertise of their four in-house winemakers and a network of partner growers, they seek to deliver the highest quality-to-price ratio possible for every wine.

Vineyard and Winery

Gros Manseng, with its thick skin and small berry size, can both ripen beautifully or over-ripen whilst retaining its acidity and shunning the advances of botrytis, giving both dry and sweet wines.To show this fascinating variety at its best, we've made two wines and blended them together: a bright and zingy Gros Manseng fermented to dryness into which we've blended a smaller proportion of late harvest Gros Manseng, bringing with it a delightful fruitiness and exotic spice.