page_title: Beaumes de Venise AOC
section_title: Muscat de Beaumes de Venise AOC
hierarchical_section_title: Beaumes de Venise AOC / Muscat de Beaumes de Venise AOC
caption_attribution_description: Vineyard in the French wine region of Beaumes de Venise of the Southern Rhone Valley within view of the Dentelles Mountains.
context_page_description: 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, 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, to be followed in 1956 by an AOC for its Côtes du Rhône.
context_section_description: 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. 
  A unique feature of the way the grapes ripen is the way in which the warmth of the sun reflects and radiates down over the vines from the huge vertical limestone slabs of the Dentelles de Montmirail – the "Lace of Montmirail".
  Just under 500 hectares are currently under cultivation. The average yield is approximately 28 hectolitres per hectare. 
  The wine is produced from a single variety, the small berried Muscat which is also known as the Muscat de Frontignan, and must contain a minimum alcohol level of 15%. Mutage is carried out during the fermentation by the addition of 95° (minimum) proof spirit.
caption: The Dentelles in the background to a sign touting the Côte du Rhône-Villages wines of Beaumes de Venise.
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