Famille Lieubeau, 2018 Update
Pressing on with my 2018 Muscadet updates, I recently met up with the famous Lieubeau brothers, Vincent and François, of Famille Lieubeau. These two siblings, together with their sister Marie who has recently joined them in their work, are transforming their family domaine, restructuring the vineyards and turning them over plot by plot to organic viticulture, while also reshaping their portfolio of wines. They currently have 20 hectares in the third year of organic conversion, and they plan to add another 10 hectares each year, prioritising the Muscadet vineyards ahead of the IGP parcels, converting the best slopes and terroirs first. So we should see, in the 2018 vintage, organic status for the Confluent cuvée, and for the crus communaux wines.
The past few years have also seen the introduction of several new cuvées, not just wines in the crus communaux arena, from Clisson and Château-Thébaud, but the aforementioned Confluent cuvée from a gneiss terroir near the confluence of the Sèvre and the Maine, and the extraordinarily successful Voyage Extraordinaire cuvée, winner of the 2017 Winedoctor Label of the Year award (well, it would win if I actually made such awards) are evidence of the siblings’ motivation and enthusiasm.
The brothers are also exceedingly nice guys and I have to say, although it always comes down to the quality of what is in the glass, more and more I enjoy drinking wines made by obviously good people. This report looks at the latest releases from this domaine, tasted with Vincent and François in January 2018. First, a few words from Vincent on the 2017 vintage.
Please log in to continue reading: