Muscadet

The wine

At the gates of Nantes, where the Loire widens before embracing the Atlantic, Muscadet reigns over the coastal vineyards of the Pays Nantais. The appellation, one of the oldest in the Loire Valley, rests entirely on Melon de Bourgogne — a variety imported in the seventeenth century after local vines froze — which finds its perfect terroir here on soils of gneiss, mica schist, and gabbro. The 'sur lie' method, the region's signature, lets the wine rest on its lees until bottling the spring after harvest, gaining complexity, body, and a fine prickle. Three sub-appellations refine the reading of terroir: Sèvre-et-Maine to the south, Côtes-de-Grandlieu to the west, Coteaux-de-la-Loire to the north. The wines, dry and lively with marked saline notes, are the natural companions to Cancale oysters, Nantes beurre blanc, or a platter of fruits de mer.