Maison Antech

Françoise Antech-Gazeau grew up among the vines and cellars, but left first: studies in Paris, ten years at L'Oréal, before returning home in 1995 to her father Georges and uncle Roger. In 2020, her son Baptiste joined – the seventh generation. Grandfather Georges still often stops by in the mornings for coffee with his daughter and grandson – three generations around the same table.

The vineyards sit at around 400 metres altitude, with the snow-capped Pyrenees on the horizon well into spring. It's this altitude – and the swing between day and night temperatures – that gives both Blanquette and Crémant the freshness they need. The vineyards have been farmed organically since 2020; in 2023 the family bought an olive grove alongside the vines. Everything is hand-harvested, each grape variety fermented separately, and intervention kept to a minimum.

The house works in two traditions: Blanquette de Limoux, made solely from the indigenous Mauzac grape, and Crémant de Limoux from Chardonnay, Chenin and Pinot Noir. Both undergo bottle fermentation using the traditional method. And this is no ordinary place: Limoux is considered the birthplace of sparkling wine. The oldest known document mentioning a sparkling Blanquette comes from here, dated 1544 – written long before Champagne became Champagne. According to tradition, the monks at the Saint-Hilaire monastery bottled the wine before fermentation was complete, and the bubbles formed on their own.

We walk the vineyards with Françoise and Baptiste and taste through the cellar with them. That's why we can tell you where the bubbles actually come from – not from a catalogue, but from the people who make them.