2020 Louis Métaireau Muscadet Sèvre et Maine

Varietal: 100% Melon de Bourgogne

Tasting notes: Marie-Luce Métaireau and Jean-François Guilbaud farm this 23-acre domaine under organics, selecting their older vines for this rich Muscadet. It’s fully ripe, the fruit having shed any greenness but still holding tense acidity. A hint of meringue-like sweetness cushions the texture and extends the sandy, oceanic flavors for a lovely match with shellfish.

Wine making: The vines are tended organically, and everything is harvested by hand — a rarity in this region, where 98% of all grapes are machine-harvested, and conventional farming with chemicals is the norm.  After resting on their lees over the winter in concrete and glass vats, the wine is siphoned off from the lees without stirring or filtering beforehand, using only gravity in the spring following each harvest. The “Carte Noire” (black label), made from vines planted in the 1950’s, is classic Muscadet, with great depth and complexity.