A lovely older Muscadet

Posted on 9 July 2012

Had this bottle in the cellar. Must have been with me since release, i.e. spring 2006. At times, you find a forgotten wine like this in the cellar and you think: ‘This can’t possibly be good.’ After all, Muscadet is meant to be drunk young, bottled directly from its lees with no filtration. At age 1 it’s a fantastically pure, vibrant wine that I enjoy with a variety of foods.

That’s only part of the story, though. Although it seems very light and rarely has more than 12% alc., Muscadet has a strong acidic and mineral backbone, and in my experience, ages very well. Not all Muscadets do, but the more ambitious bottlings from the best, poorest soils (mostly granite and gneiss) can often go beyond 20 years! I remember two very exciting vertical tastings with Louis Métaireau and Domaine de la Pépière, going back to 1993. And Muscadet doesn’t even need oak to achieve such longevity.

So I had this bottle of modest (price tag was 7.35€) Muscadet from Château du Coing de Saint-Fiacre from 2005 and was wondering whether it would be over the hill. Not at all. There is a bit of age on the nose with honey and minimal petrol but on the palate this is still peppery and mineral with plenty of freshness. It remains a simple wine, but one with quite some depth, and the understated melony fruit is really delicious. At 12% alc. the bottle was gone before too long. Muscadet as a region is in dire straits today (see e.g. this article), yet it makes brilliant wine that deserves to be better known.

Disclosure

Source of wine: own purchase.