Muscadet Appreciation Thread

WINE TALK
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Perhaps you’ve never tried the great ones?

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Claude Branger is also well worth a look. The basic wine is less than $15 retail, and is a delight. He also does a sparkling Melon that I love and makes me wonder why more producers don’t play with bubbly.

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For a producer of Napa Valley Cabernet, that price point blows my mind. I can’t get out of the gate for that. Here, doing things the way I do them. Minimum: buck a bottle for the glass, another $2 to print the bottle, another buck for the cork. Another buck for the capsule. After paying that strange woman for the fruit she grows. Then paying for the custom crush facility. Bonded storage while waiting to ship. I’d lose my shirt.

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Wonder what the crossover looks like between Muscadet drinkers and Napa Cabernet drinkers.

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And this is why Americans drink European wines. Excellent quality at cheaper prices. [cheers.gif]

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I’m prettyunacquainted with serious Muscadet (please confirm that’s not an oxymoron). Like the basic stuff at the price point for dock side sipping. My question is , what is the aging potential of quality Muscadet. The reason that I ask is that I discovered just the other day a lone bottle 2006 Melon de Bourgogne from one of the better Prince Edward County wine makers lurking in a corner of my cellar, and it was delicious. Richer and more complex than I would have expected. It was under screwcap which is possibly part of the explanation.

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A bottle of 1989 Luneau Papin L d’Or I opened last year was still cruising along at an amazingly high plateau. Wonderful wine.

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A 1999 Luneau-Papin “L” d’Or a couple of years ago showed well at a tasting, competing with some serious contenders. Lemons, florals, minerals. It was not showing any signs of imminent decline. A 2002 was similarly beautiful, rounding out a little, but still showing typical muscadet verve, cut and minerality.

Cheers,
Warren

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Good to hear, I plan on opening an '02 this Friday.

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Came here to say my favorite beer is made using muscadet, but then looked for confirmation and Cantillon Vigneronne uses muscat.

Carry on lol

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Merril, I suspect the economics are simply a lot different on that side of the pond. The land is typically not an issue because it’s been in the family, excepting of course expansion and inheritance taxes which are apparently no joke. Then consider that they’re probably using a much lighter piece of glass, a cork not designed to last nearly as long, and that they probably just generally pay less for labels, capsules and closure. Fake or composite corks are common for the wines meant to be consumed young, and cheap plastic capsules are also common. Surprisingly I’ve seen little under screw cap. Overall I suspect your $5 for packaging is closer to $1+ there. Even so, I’m also amazed that they can get the wine to the middle of the US as inexpensively as they can. I’ve had quality muscadet delivered to Missouri for under $11 total price, including Pepiere’s sur lie bottling, which is the step down from the Briords and is an excellent entry-level muscadet.

As Warren said, that’s a part of why many of us as Americans and wine lovers focus on Europe for value. For many of us the more AFWE style of wines are also preferred to a riper style, but the pricing realities certainly seem to be in favor of European wines, and not just in Muscadet but in most of Europe.

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I can vouch. Great bottle.

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I always look for one on a restaurant wine list if I’m buying off the list.

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Is AFWE the same as the AFBWE? :slight_smile:

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and I thought I was the only one who liked Muscadet. Haven’t explored too much but every bottle I’ve ever had was astoundingly good and then discovering the sub $20 price made it all the better. Will try sourcing a few of the producers recommended here…

Here’s a $10 bottle I found through Garagiste that I think was excellent…


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Sean