Domaine Le Fay d’Homme & Vine Revival, 2016 Update
It was good to recently catch up again with Vincent Caillé. When I first tasted his wines, which was only during the past couple of years, I was really impressed by the quality, especially from his crus communaux cuvées. He has been producing a top-notch Monnières-Saint-Fiacre for some time now, probably for as long as anyone else in the region, but in the 2012 vintage he added a Gorges cuvée to his portfolio. Two very good reasons, I think, to stop by for a tasting with Vincent.
Having said that, while I tasted both these crus communaux wines, what really struck me on this occasion were Vincent’s older cuvées. Having tasted and drunk a lot of older Muscadet I am no longer surprised by its ability to age. It isn’t the accepted world view of Muscadet though, and I suppose that for many years to come Muscadet will have to endure the attentions of wine writers who make their inaugural visit to the region and then ‘discover’ for the first time that the wines can age, or that there has been a slow-burning crus communal revolution during the past twenty-or-so years, or simply that the wines are more deliciously true to their mineral origins they had ever anticipated (which is perhaps one of the most delightful characteristics of these wines). For me, however, these different facets of Muscadet are now given, and my explorations in this region largely revolve around understanding new vintages, and getting to grips with vignerons and domaines I don’t know so well. Such as Vincent, for example.
Having said that, let me come back to the issue of age for a moment. I have found Muscadet tends to age in one of two ways. Some wines develop an evolved character which is reminiscent of brioche, toast or fruit bread, sometimes with a little touch of nut. It may be that there is an oxidative component to this particular style. In other wines it is as if the fruit concentrates, the wine instead developing a desiccated, dried-fruit character, intense and pure, with a little more freshness than the brioche style. I suppose it is technically incorrect to say there are only two styles, as there are wines that seem to sit between the two, so perhaps it would be more precise for me to propose that there is in fact a spectrum of styles seen with age, and these two examples are merely the two extremes. Although I enjoy both of these aged characteristics, my preference is certainly for those wines that show a more tangy and desiccated fruit style than those which are full of nutty brioche and spiced bread. The older wines here tended more towards this concentrated fruit style, and seemed bright and charming as a result.
