Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Your $10 Recession Wine of the Week: Domaine Pierre de la Grange Muscadet


This Muscadet Sevre & Maine Sur Lie—Domaine Pierre de la Grange—comes from the reliable importer Louis/Dresser, and is handsomely representative of its varietal. It has everything I look for in a Muscadet, but rarely fine—good bracing acidity, minerality, provacative vegetal notes—and at a wonderful price, $10.

Pierre et Monique Luneau-Papin head this 30-hectare estate in Le Landreau. Their estate has been in existence since the early 18th century when it was already planted with Melon de Bourgogne. Pierre and Monique are the eighth generation of winemakers in the family.

The harvest is done by hand, a rarity in the region, to avoid any oxidation before pressing. There is an immediate light débourbage (separation of juice from gross lees), then a 4-week fermentation at 68 degrees, followed by 6 months of aging in stainless-steel vats on fine lees.

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