Gadais Père et Fils, 2019 Update
The Gadais family have a long history in Muscadet, and in the Loire Valley in general, Christophe Gadais having worked with Famille Bourgeois in Sancerre for many years, certainly long enough to meet and marry one of the Bourgeois daughters at any rate. Since he returned to Muscadet he has carved out a fine reputation, although the domaine has always remained under the radar, never ascending to the same level as the region’s greats. But fortunes wax and wane, and with the handing over of the reins to the next generation, Pierre-Henri Gadais (pictured), I suspect we will see more waxing than waning in the coming years.
The Wines
I tasted two wines from the 2018 vintage with Pierre-Henri, a young-vines cuvée named Le Pellerin, and generic domaine-level cuvée named La Grande Réserve du Moulin. Pierre-Henri says he has never seen a vintage like 2018, although the cynical might point out that as he has yet to see his thirtieth birthday (I think) this might not mean very much. But Pierre-Henri’s grandfather, who ran the domaine back in the mid-20th century, right up until Christophe Gadais took control in the 1980s, says the same. He joins the long list of old hands in the region proclaiming the greatness of the vintage. Pierre-Henri told me they had an early harvest, when the fruit was in perfect condition, with no rot, and with good yields, ripeness and acidity levels. The weather held until the end of harvest. In other words, conditions were nothing short of ideal.
While a 2017 Vieilles Vignes cuvée showed well, as did the 2016 Monopole, the star of the show here was the 2016 Monnières-Saint-Fiacre ‘Plantation 1947’, a very fine cru communal wine from both gneiss and amphibolite terroirs in Gras Moutons. While many readers familiar with this vineyard will know it is a gneiss terroir, the presence of amphibolite here is significant for several vignerons; Pierre-Henri is one such vigneron (while Sébastien Branger of Domaine de Haute Févrie is another). The ‘Plantation 1947’ is a very fine example of the Monnières-Saint-Fiacre cru, nevertheless I think what most impressed me during this tasting was not any particular cuvée, but Pierre-Henri’s infectious energy, his commitment to his vines and his wines, and his zeal for new challenges. I will write more about this when I profile his new project, a domaine with an interesting story, Domaine de la Combe. (14/3/19)
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