Domaine Louis Métaireau Grand Mouton: Vineyards
From 1988 onwards Marie-Luce Métaireau and Jean-François Guilbaud continued to bring as much of the Grand Mouton vineyard under their control rather than that of Métaireau’s original consortium as possible, acquiring the vineyard in a piece by piece fashion. This meant that when they ceded possession of the estate to Julien Rossignol he was presented with 23 hectares of Le Grand Mouton, situated in a single block on slopes alongside the Maine, in Saint-Fiacre-sur-Maine. Neighbouring sections of the vineyards of the old Gras Moutons seigneurie are exploited by a number of famous names, not least Claude and then Sébastien Branger of Domaine la Haute Févrie and of course Marc Ollivier, Rémi Branger and Gwénaëlle Croix of Domaine de la Pépière. This single plot of vines constitutes the largest portion of the vineyards of Domaine du Grand Mouton, although I believe the domaine’s possessions also included smaller plots of vines in La Haye-Fouassière and in Maisdon-sur-Sèvre.
Those familiar with Les Gras Moutons from Domaine de la Pépière will know that the terroir of the Gras Moutons ‘mound’ is predominantly gneiss, this being an unusual but very welcome idiosyncrasy in his portfolio, all his other wines being from granite. This dominance of gneiss is also seen in Métaireau’s Grand Mouton vines, although there are also streaks of mica, garnet and amphibolite. The vines are very old, dating to the 1930s in some cases, Julien says at the time of his arrival at the domaine the vast majority are between 60 and 80 years of age. Work in the vineyard is conventional, and I am aware of no leaning towards organics or biodynamics. He has identified a need to undertake some replanting of plots, although it is largely the younger parcels that are not doing well and need pulling up.
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