Muscadet Round-Up, 2024
With a trip to Bordeaux for the primeurs coming up it is inevitable that following my return to Scotland (and to sanity) the publication of new tasting notes on Bordeaux – in the shape of the 2023 vintage, of course – will dominate my reports. After which I will be setting sail once more, for some tasting time in the Loire Valley. All of which mean there won’t be much room for anything other than 2023 Bordeaux in coming weeks.
I don’t particularly want to leave a lot of Muscadet tasting notes languishing in a back room though, especially as now that March 31st has past the growers can begin bottling their 2023 sur lie wines (bottle them any earlier than this date and the wine would be ineligible for the sur lie designation). After which they will no doubt begin appearing in the marketplace, presumably at more pocket-friendly prices than the looming Bordeaux releases.
So, to complement my recent tasting reports dealing with the latest and forthcoming releases from four of the region’s leading names – which, in case you missed them, were Domaine Luneau-Papin, Jo Landron, Domaine de la Pépière and Famille Lieubeau – I publish here a collection of recently penned tasting notes from a handful of other noteworthy domaines.
The Domaines
I start with Domaine Brégeon, a domaine made famous (in Muscadet circles, anyway) by the work of André-Michel Brégeon, renowned for his long-lees-aged Gorges cuvées, but these days it is home to Fréd Lailler. I continue with an array of wines from the hands of the Gadais family, including Domaine de la Combe, where Pierre-Henri Gadais is in charge, followed by a selection of wines presented by Christophe Gadais, under the Gadais Père et Fils and Domaine de la Tourmaline labels.
I then leave the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation behind, and head south to Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu, for the wines of Nicolas and Hervé Choblet. Long-term proprietors of Domaine du Haut Bourg, the intrepid brothers release wines under this label but also as Domaine H & N Choblet, the split facilitating the production of a range of certified organic wines without having to turn their entire vineyard over to organic methods. Finally I return to the Muscadet vineyards between the Sèvre and the Maine, but not to their associated appellation, as I conclude with a range of wines made at Domaine de la Sénéchalière by Marc Pesnot, a long-time exponent of Vin de France over any appellation.
