Pierre Luneau Papin La Grange Muscadet 2022

Pierre Luneau Papin La Grange Muscadet 2022

Pierre proceeds to vinify in small batches according to the origin of the fruit. The harvest is done by hand, also 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 20 degrees, followed by 6 months (or longer for some cuvées) of aging in stainless-steel vats on fine lees. This is the classic Muscadet-sur-lie process, where the wine is kept on its lees, with a fair amount of CO2 as protection, until bottling in the spring following the harvest. The only modern technique used here is macération pelliculaire (maceration of lightly crushed berries before pressing), which varies in proportion according to the cuvées.

From vines planted 1974 grown on mica-schist with a bedrock of schist in the village of Le Landreau. Hand harvested and aged on lees for 7 months. On the palate the wine is pure and well defined, complex and beautifully focused, with solid mid-palate depth, nice framing acids and very good length on the classy finish.

"This cuvée, Pierre-Marie reliably informs me, is sourced from 12 hectares of vines planted in multiple parcels around the cellars in Landreau, the planting of which dates to 1974. The soils are micaschist and schist. It presents a nose of dried yellow peach, mirabelle and smoke. This is followed by a nicely polished style on the palate, being gently composed with a powdery phenolic backbone underneath a generous layer of white peach and apple, with modest but evident acidity, before it concludes with an appealingly bitter grip in the finish. Decent balance for the vintage." thewinedoctor.com