Muscadet Report: 2016
6/13/17 -
It's a difficult period in Muscadet as most growers lost 50% to 90% of their crop in 2016 due to a terrible frost after a very warm early spring, with many producers suffering similar losses in 2017. Most estates were obliged to buy fruit and produced small quantities of wine in 2016, a terrible economic hardship for the growers as prices in the region are very low and most estates have no stock of previous vintages to soften the blow. At Domaine de la Pépière, Marc, Remi and Gwénaëlle have fashioned a delicious 2016 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie "La Pépie" including grapes normally in their best cuvées such as "Clisson," "Clos des Morines," and "Monnières Saint-Fiacre," as well as fruit purchased and harvested by the Pépière team from neighboring parcels. The wine is outstanding - it's a well structured, very classic Muscadet, reflecting the primarily granite terroirs of its origins. It will be a perfect, refreshing accompaniment to oysters, seafood and chicken dishes this summer and fall. Since his first vintage in 1984, Marc Ollivier has produced wines that show the outstanding potential in the terroirs of Muscadet, and Domaine de la Pépière is now one of the leading domains of the Loire Valley. We're proud to have the 2016 "La Pépie" stacked on the floor at Chambers Street!
While our supply of Muscadet will be diminished in the months to come, we are still able to offer a number of wines from the excellent 2015 vintage as well as a few older wines from Domaine de la Louvetrie and Domaine Luneau-Papin. 2009 was a ripe, relatively low acid vintage, but Jo Landron at Louvetrie and Pierre Luneau at Luneau-Papin produced outstanding wines due to their exemplary farming and the high percentage of old vines in the Fief du Breil and L D'Or vineyards - they are both outstanding wines and remain reasonably priced. 2010 is a classic vintage with well structured wines that will cellar beautifully - the 2010 Luneau-Papin "L D'Or" is a superb wine that is scintillating in its youth, perhaps best 2020-2030. And though 2015 was a warm vintage producing wines with higher levels of alcohol, the wines are well balanced, with pretty aromatics and good ripeness on the palate while retaining the firm acidity and mineral flavors in the finish that characterize the best Muscadet. Of the 2015s in today's email, the Louvetrie Domaine should be enjoyed over the next year or two but the remaining four wines will drink well over the next five to fifteen years, with a special thumb's up to the superb Domaine de l'Ecu "Granite." Time to stock up!
-DL
