Every Monday, discover new wines, regions, and ways to understand this fermenting sea.
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Munching Vidal Blanc on Keuka Lake, New York
Category Archives: Muscadet
Other Muscadets and Oddities: Coteaux de la Loire, Grandlieu, Gros Plant, Fiefs Vendeens, Chenin, and Muscadet
Yes. Winter grips the Northern hemisphere. But turn your minds to warmer weather. Our 7 month 13 country EU Austerity Drinking Tour has visited Muscadet’s famed Sèvre-et-Maine and every-day Muscadet. This Monday, we try on Muscadet’s other wine regions for size.
On the Loire’s right bank, North of Sèvre et Maine sits Coteaux de la Loire in the hills above Ancenis:
They too mainly grow Muscadet. But how do they perform:
Les Vignerons de la Noëlle’s “Folies Siffait” Muscadet Coteaux de la Loire, France 2011
Like most Muscadet, Noëlle looks pale lemon with a slight fizz. Continue reading
Aging Wine on Sludge: Muscadet Sur lie -vs- Sans lie
Last Monday’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour visited Clisson: home to Muscdet Sèvre et Maine. Before we left, we popped into their tasting room and found this:
Muscadet wine filled this barrel-with-its-skirt-lifted. Neon lights lit the thing that makes Muscadet fantastic: sludge:
That sludge consists of months of sedimentation of dead yeast and particulates. Called lie (lees), nearly half of Muscadet Sèvre et Maine proudly adds “sur lie” (on the lees) to its labels. But why?
To find out, we sample through twenty wines for free at Nantes’ Maison des Vins de Loire:
Let’s begin with plain ‘ol Muscadet:
Château-Thébaud uses grapes from grower Poiron Dabin. Its pale gold color runs from the core to the rim. Pure, strong aromas waft of honey, flint, smoke, and salt. It feels dry, still racing with acidity, mild alcohol, a lightish body, and moderately intense flavors of tart green apple, grass, salt, and bees’ wax. The length is only medium. Yet five years old, this Muscadet remains fresh and clean cut. It is textbook, faultless, and very good (4 of 5). Continue reading
Posted in Muscadet, White
Tagged Château-Thébaud, Cheese, Clisson, Cure Nantais, European Union, France, lees, Lees (fermentation), lees aging, lie, Maine, Maison des Vins de Loire, Muscadet, Nantes, sevre et maine, sur lie, wine, yeast
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