Domaine de la Pépière "Clos des Briords" Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie MAGNUM, Loire Valley, France 2025

FROM LOUIS/DRESSNER:

THE WINE: Grapes are harvested manually then carried to the wine cellar with much care. The pneumatic press is filled by gravity, the grapes are not crushed. Fermentation naturally takes place in an underground vat, without any yeast and sugar addition, at a temperature of 19°C for about one month. This cuvee is left for 7 months on its lees without any racking.

THE PRODUCER: Ollivier’s Muscadet-sur-Lie is the authentic item — it has lees contact until the time of bottling generally in late May. This extended contact gives it the crispness that makes Muscadet so refreshing, and the classic wine match for seafood. It is the traditional way to make but has become the exception as growers and shippers rush to bottle “technically correct” wines by early January.

In this rush to bottle, Muscadet producers use special “starter” yeasts (which often also add flavors and aromas) to accelerate fermentation and enzymes or other techniques to finish the wine early. Sterile filtration is in rampant use. Ollivier takes his time. He hand harvests (also a rarity in the region), uses natural yeasts, waits for the wine to finish and bottles with a very light filtration. The vineyards are in old vines (40 years and older) with a particularly good exposition on a plateau overlooking the river Sèvre. All the vineyards are from original stock: Ollivier is the only grower in the Muscadet who does not have a single clonal selection in his vineyards.