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© 2004, Jon-David Headrick Selections, LLC. All Rights Reserved. |
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the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.” - Earnest Hemingway
Every time I read these words of Hemingway in his most delicious book, A Moveable Feast, I imagine him on the terrace of a Parisian café with a dozen Portugaises oysters and a carafe of Muscadet. The thought isn’t entirely preposterous as Muscadet has been shipped north to Paris for centuries, soon after the Monks brought the Melon de Bourgogne varietal from Burgundy in the 17th century. However, I doubt that Hemingway’s Muscadet would have been as mineral-laden and aromatic as those that Domaine de la Fruitière is turning out these days. If it had been, he might have ordered another dozen.
The village of Chateau-Thébaud sits on a hill overlooking the Maine river as it winds through the soft, rolling hills of the Nantais, just south of Nantes. This fertile area of France is particularly blessed with extraordinary mineral deposits, and Chateau-Thébaud profits from this perhaps more than most. From its vantage point at the top of the hill, Domaine de la Fruitière overlooks its holdings of old vine Melon planted on soil filled with granite, mica, and schist. |
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The granite forms the base of the soil, and as it has been eroded for centuries and centuries, small fissures have formed, allowing the roots of these vines to plunge deep into the rock, stealing precious minerals to send back up to the surface. Even without knowing this, you would certainly taste it in the wines.
Jean Douillard, the founder of the estate, is obsessed with making sure that he extracts as much of this minerality from the soil as he can. As such, he uses only natural vine treatments, leaving a final grain that is pure and ready for the crush. There is an aggressive de-leafing and a green harvest that is still a rarity in the region. At harvest, Jean and his team go over every grain as it is destemmed, culling any under-ripe grapes and sending the rest on to press, ferment, and then sit quietly on their fine lees all through the cold Nantais winter.
In the spring, the Petit M cuvée is created by blending the best parcels into a crisp, textured white wine that screams for a hot summer day and some cold, fresh shellfish. Produced in much smaller quantities, the Grand M is harvested from a tiny parcel of vines planted in the mid 1950’s. This wine is fashioned in a more un-traditional style with partial malolactic fermentation and ageing of 12 months before release. Unfortunately, the United States will receive only a few cases of this benchmark wine that has charmed sommeliers in Paris and London. Speaking of London, Fruitère produces a special cuvee of Muscadet for London’s finest wine merchant, one of Jean’s longest customers.
For those who have given up on Muscadet based on bad experiences in the past from large, commercially produced Melon, it’s time to try the real thing. Could you pass the oysters? |
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muscadet “petit m”
Cépage: 100% Melon de Bourgogne Vinification: Heavy sorting of the harvest before press. Very slow, controlled fermentation for 20 days. Élevage: The wine rests on its fine lees in tank. Vineyard: 25-50 year-old vines planted in soil rich with granite, mica, and schist.
muscadet “grand m”
Cépage: 100% Melon de Bourgogne Vinification: Aggressive vineyard and pre-crush triage. Very slow, controlled fermentation for 25 days. Élevage: The wine rests on its fine lees in tank for 12 months. Vineyard: Single vineyard of 30-50 year-old vines planted in soil rich with granite, mica, and schist. |
