Wine
Regions
Old World
France
Loire

PAYS NANTAIS

Nantais is Muscadet country. The richest Muscadet comes from the Sevre-et-Maine, while that from the Coteaux de la Loire to the north has extra acidity. Elsewhere, wines of very ordinary quality prevail.

Southeast of Nantes are the vineyards of Muscadet. The best are those of the Sevre-of-Maine district, named after two rivers, which is much hillier than the surrounding countryside and protected from northwesterly winds by Nantes itself. Sevre-et-Maine accounts for one-quarter of the general appellation area, yet produces 85 per cent of all Muscadet. Only in unusually hot or dry years, when they contain extra natural acidity, can the Muscadet grapes grown funkier north in the Coteaux de la Loire sometimes surpass those from Sevre-et-Maine.

THE MUSCADET GRAPE AND ITS WINES

Exactly when the Muscadet grape, also known as the Melon de Bourgogne and the Gamay blanc, was first planted in the area is uncertain. There is a plaque at Chateau de la Cassemichere that claims that the first Muscadet wine was transplanted there from Burgundy in 1740, but Pierre Galet, the famous ampelograltler (vine botanist), tells us that "following the terrible winter of 1709, Louis XlV ordered that the replanting of the frozen vineyards of Loire Atlantique be with Muscadet blanc".

The wine produced in the Muscadet grape is neutral in flavor and bears no hint of the muskiness its name implies. Perhaps it is the simplest, cleanest flavored wine in the world. It must be harvested early to preserve acidity, and yet, in doing so, the grower runs the risk of making a wine that lacks fruit. But if the wine is left in contact with its sediment and bottled sur lie, off the lees - the operation enhances the fruit, adds a yeasty dimension of depth and, by retaining more of the carbonic gas created during fermentation, imparts a certain liveliness and freshness. A Muscadet sur lie must remain in contact with its sediment for one winter, and may not he bottled before February 15 following the harvest. It must he bottled directly off its lees, and must not be racked or filtered. Some growers would like the term sur lie applied only to wines kept in wooden barrels, arguing that the effect of keeping a wine in contact with its lees in huge vats is negligible.