Muscadet Wine

Compared to the Loire Valley’s more prestigious white wine appellations, from Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé to Anjou and Savennières, Muscadet has often been somewhat overlooked. Certainly its wines do not command anything like the price of those from the more famous ACs, but despite this – or perhaps because of it – they can offer just as much pleasure. The name refers not to a place or a grape variety, with the wines made at the western end of the Loire Valley, near Nantes, from the Melon de Bourgogne grape in a ripe, vibrant and markedly aromatic style. The Sèvre-et-Maine region covers the vast majority of the appellation, with many of the more serious wines made ‘sur lie’, directly from the vat, on their lees, thereby adding a certain richness and texture.