Domaine La Pépière - 'La Pépière', Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Loire, France (2023)

TASTING NOTES

For Chablis lovers, this is fresh but with a lovely lees-y undertone. White pears, citrus fruits and white flowers with river stones and a crunchy salty minerality. A joyful wine.

Since founder and long-term winemaker Marc Olivier retired in 2019, his hand-picked protégées Rémi Branger and Gwénaëlle Croix have carried on the pioneering work they started with him over ten years ago.

Along with converting to biodynamic farming and more judicious applications of sulphites - the two stand-out features of the domaine are pushing the standard nine months of lees aging to three, four and even five years and a focus on single vineyard bottlings. The soils consist of sand, limestone and gneiss. 

Despite having some of the most varied terroirs and micro-climates in all of France, it remains a region of scale and bulk dominated by large négociant operations. Domaine La Pepiere vinifies each of their parcels separately with the crus of Clisson, Monnières-Saint Fiacre, Château-Thébaud and Gorges.