Ollivier Père et Fils: Vineyards
Only two Muscadet communes sit on the isthmus of land that is slowly squeezed out by the Sèvre and the Maine as they approach each other. At the very tip is Saint-Fiacre-sur-Maine, where Château du Coing de St-Fiacre, Château de Chasseloir (part of the Chéreau-Carré empire) and Domaine du Grand Mouton can all be found. Before this, however, sandwiched between Saint-Fiacre-sur-Maine and Monnières, there is Maisdon-sur-Sèvre; this is where Jean-Luc Ollivier and his brother Guy can be found, at Domaine de la Grenaudière. Unsurprisingly, given their shared origins, the domaine is situated just around the corner from Domaine de la Pépière.
The vines are therefore largely located between these two rivers, although Jean-Luc also has 2.5 hectares of vines in Clisson. The terroir is almost exclusively granite, as we would expect here, with overlying clay, although there are also some areas of silty, sandy and more gravelly soils. All told he has 40 hectares of vines under his control, planted entirely with Melon de Bourgogne, there being no room for other varieties (for vin de pays, for example) here. His oldest vines were planted in 1935, although most are between seven and fifty years of age, with an average of 28 years.
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