With baseball here, the thermometer pushing 70, and the Marathon around the corner, it’s finally starting to feel like spring here in Boston. (This is New England, of course, and even typing those words probably risks an April snow storm.) But we’ve turned over the season in our minds and cellars, and eventually Mother Nature will catch up.
We’re preparing our warehouse for our Oysterfest celebration (this Saturday, April 15 – come by if you’re local!) and one wine is sure to be on the menu: Muscadet. This is a crisp, precise, perennially underrated dry white wine that is the essence of freshness. It’s also abundant and inexpensive.
Made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape, the best examples are raised “sur lie” (on the lees) to add complexity. In recent years Muscadet has undergone a reinvention of sorts with the elevation of three of the region’s best towns to a new “Cru Communal” status.
Today’s wine comes from one of these leaders in the new wave of Muscadet. Martin-Luneau is a family domaine farming old vines on the plains south of Nantes. Today we’re pleased to release the 2018 “Gorges” Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine. Combining exceptional terroir with extended years on the lees, this is an unusually complex take on a classic.
The 2018 Gorges is a perfect companion to the arrival of Spring. It’s pure and clean, showing melon, dried spring flowers, and lemon zest. The mouth is smooth and very dry, with notes of salt air, stones, and green apple skins. It’s refreshing and full of energy. Maybe don’t put your sweaters away just yet, but grab a case of this to be ready.
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Martin-Luneau Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine
Sur Lie “Gorges” 2018
bottle price: $22
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