Pépière 2020 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Clisson Cru Communal

(Arrives June 13th) This sensational Cru Communal Clisson spent more than 2 years on the lees before bottling. Rémi Branger on the 2020 vintage "We harvested the 2020s very early, beginning on August 24th, it was a precocious vintage. Maturities advanced quickly but we were able to keep good freshness and some nice bitter notes that were missing a bit in 2018 and 2019." The 2020 Clisson, tasted last month in the Loire, is a great success featuring classic, vibrant aromas of almond, pear, citrus and stone, with a dense very mineral palate with subtle white fruits and a long bright stony finish. This will provide superb early drinking, especially with shellfish and baked cod or sole, but please put some away as 10 to 20 years of cellaring will create something special. David Lillie

Pépière 2019 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Gorges Cru Communal

(Arrives 5/23) We're ecstatic to have another vintage of this superb new Muscadet from Pépière. The product of an exchange of juice with Fred Lailler at Domaine Bregeon from a tiny parcel of old vines on Gabbro bedrock with clay rich in quartz. The wine undergoes a slow fermentation and is then aged 36 months on the lees. (Marc Ollivier considers this a favorite of Pepiere's bottlings, along with the Château-Thébaud.) The 2019 Gorges is a complex, dense and beautifully structured wine, with  a bit more brightness and acidity than than the superb 2015.  The Gabbro terroir brings unique aromas showing almond, smoke and petrol notes in addition to stone, pear, quince and mushroom. The palate is dense and intensely mineral with ripe pear and quince, earth, almond, anise and citrus notes, with stone, lemon peel and white fruits lingering in the very long finish. If drinking young please give the wine a lengthy decant to release the unique character of this wine - best to wait at least 5 - 6 years before opening, then enjoy until 2042 and beyond.  David Lillie

Pépière 2021 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Les Gras Moutons

(Arrives 5/23)  Les Gras Moutons is a great parcel on gneiss, in layers that permit a deep penetration by the vines, with sandy clay and amphibolite stones. The vines are at the top of a hill and on the south facing slope overlooking the Maine. (The name, by the way, does not refer to fat sheep, despite their presence on the label, but rather in local dialect, to the hilltop vineyard site.) This terroir produces lovely, classic Muscadet to drink over the next 5 to 8 years."It has a more perfumed and precise style than the granite cuvées (in 2021), although the wafting aromatics of crushed chalk and white peach feel familiar. The palate has a nice tension though, with a polished richness countered by a chalky oyster-shell freshness, with a white-peach purity. It is pervaded by a fine grip, with firm phenolics, and modest acidity."(winedoctor)

Pépière 2021 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Briords Vieilles Vignes

(Arrives Wed 3/14) First produced in 1988, this great Muscadet is made from a three hectare parcel of old massale-selection vines (all over 60 years old, with a high percentage much older) on a slope above the Maine. The bedrock is Granite de Château Thébaud, a fissured rock that allows the vines to penetrate deeply, with ideal thin topsoils of clay, with sand and gravel allowing good drainage.  "We had a very small harvest following the spring frost of 2021. This severe frost had two consequences: few bunches being present on the vine, it had no stress or problem "feeding" these grapes. The other important point is that the frost created a long delay in the growth of vegetation. In 2021 the harvest started late on September 16 - If it hadn't been for this frost, the harvest would probably have started at the end of August. For all the wines, and in particular Briords, this translates into a slower maturity of the grapes allowing a greater conversation of acidities (lower acidity in the finished wine). In the end, the Briords 2021 is, in our eyes, a very nice vintage qualitatively but which we do not wish to have again because quantitatively it is very, very tiny!" Gwénaëlle and Rémi.  Indeed, the 2021 Briords shows aromas that are a bit riper than usual - very elegant pear, stone, almond and citrus. The palate shows a bit less weight than the 2020, but still has a beautiful core of minerals and firm acidity below subtle pear, apple, lemon, stone and earth flavors, with a bright, scintillating finish. Our advice is to drink the beautiful and more forward 2021, while waiting (another 5 to 10 years) for the 2020 to develop. David Lillie