Saturday, September 20, 2008

Drive for One Hundred: 2007 La Sablette Muscadet Sèvre et Maine

Muscadet is a confusing wine word, the name of a grape (that also goes by other names), yet the French appellation of "Muscadet Sèvre et Maine" uses the Melon de Bourgogne grape for its dry white wines. Thus tonight's "Muscadet", the 2007 La Sablette Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur lie, is Melon de Bourgogne - not my first wine from this appellation, but with no notes on my site it ends up in my "Drive for 100". A pretty nose of soapy lavender and wildflowers, framed by aromas of flinty lemon peel, hummus and yeast. Very minerally on the palate, like sipping wine from a stone (or amethyst?) goblet, nicely textured but thin and fleeting. A simple, nicely balanced pre-dinner quaffer, I'd serve it with the salad course or a tray of oysters.
plastic cork. 12% alcohol
Score: 16/20
Price: C$13.55 (SAQ)

Note that the 'sur lie' means the wine is bottled straight from the vat without racking, and must spend a minimum amount of time on the lees before bottling. This is done for added complexity, and may result in some effervescence (but not noticeable tonight). 

3 comments:

Montreal Web Design said...

Isn't Muscadet a diminutif from Muscat? I think it's a wordplay on Muscat + cadet (younger brother, in fr.)

Brooklynguy said...

hey joe - not trying to rub it in, because i know it;s tough for you to get your hands on Dressner wines up there...but if you haven't already, please, i implre you, try Pepiere's and Luneau-Papin's Muscadets. they are fantastic and so reasonably priced. just my .02 cents.

Joe said...

Welcome Alina - Muscat is one of the ancient varietals, so all grapes would be "cadet", makes sense to me.

Neil, your 2 cents are worth thousands of $$$ here, but Pepiere's and Luneau-Papin's Muscadets are not available locally - I will keep an eye out for those.