Muscadet Its Fall and Rise

D

Don Rice

Don Rice
Feels like I'm getting on a roll with the history posts.

Presented here are one dozen uber-geeky excerpts through time about whether Muscadet can benefit from age. The second half of the 20th century was not kind regarding the wine's potential to improve or at least hold in the cellar, though we seem to be coming full circle.

Sources are at the bottom, where you'll also find the original French texts, should you wish to bypass my translations (if you can call them that). Salut.

1832
"La Chapelle-Hullin, La Haye, Le Loroux, Le Pallet, Maisdon and Saint Fiacre produce soft, light wines with a pleasant taste which keep very well." (1) Andre Jullien

1889
"Winemakers of the last century didn't suppose that it could be kept more than three or four years in barrels, while (today) we can keep the good crus in bottle indefinitely." (2) A. Andouard

1889
"When it's a good harvest, it can improve for 15 or 20 years." (2) A. Andouard

1937
"1868. The harvest was abundant, though not excessive. The wine was potent and very aromatic. Everyone who lived at the end of the last century drank many bottles of the delicious 1868. It lasted 30 years without diminishing." (3) J. de Camiran

1951
"Muscadet is not a wine to lay down; it is at its best when young and lively, usually before it reaches its third year. As a wine it is too thin and hungry ever to be popular in England." (4) Andre Simon

1962
"It is a light fresh wine, with a bouquet which is quite characteristic and agreable; the wine is very delicate. It has a lot of charm when young, but ages badly." (5) T.A. Layton

1973
"A four-year-old Cabernet or fine Red Bordeaux is still young, and a six-year-old Vintage Porto is still an infant. On the other hand, a three-year-old Muscadet or vin rosi or Sylvaner is already middle-aged." (6) Frank Schoonmaker

1988
"They are meant to be drunk young; you will not find mature Muscadet coming up for sale at Christie's" (7) Michael Broadbent

2002
"At that moment I knew my career in wine was as dead as a 28-year-old Muscadet." (8) Mike Lynch

2003
"The meeting of two talents can only generate happiness. This was the case when Clissonais restauranteur Serge Poiron visited Maisdonnais winemaker Joseph Ollivier. What would they tell each other on the heights of Maisdon-sur-Sevre? On this cold Monday morning in February 1991, they do not drown in words."

[Then they taste lots of Muscadet from the 80s 70s and 60s]

"Serge completed the tasting in exalted fashion with a 1947. In circumstances like this one, tasting or not, there is no question of spitting! Likewise, even after the glasses were empty, they would repeatedly plunge their noses in!" (9) Jean Yves Picoron

1947muscadet.jpg
2004
"A more recent vineyard tradition is one of the "nuptial barrel"- prepared especially for the wedding of one's child. After the wedding the unconsumed portion was bottled and kept for other important family events. This late, unracked bottling gave the Muscadet a round, fat and powerful aroma which transformed and allowed it to improve over time, certain vintages achieving great qualities after several years of aging. This apparently anecdotal history of the "nuptial barrel" is one of the vineyard traditions of of Nantes and at the same time confirms the aging potential of Muscadet." (10) Delanoe and Pujol

2010
"Good Muscadet ages exceptionally well, sometimes taking on the kerosene flavor of older rieslings, and developing a surprising complexity." (11) Eric Asimov

Sources:
1. Topographie de tous les vignobles connus - Andre Jullien (1832)
2. Les Progrès de l'Agriculture dans la Loire-Inférieure, Depuis un Siècle - A. Andouard (1889)
3. Le Vignoble du Pays Nantais - J. de Camiran (1937)
4. Loire: The Wines of the World Pocket Library - Andre Simon (1951)
5. The Wines and Vineyards of France -Jacquelin & Poulain, [translated by T.A. Layton](1962)
6. Frank Schoonmaker's Encyclopedia of Wine (1973)
7. The Illustrated London News -Michael Broadbent (v276 1988)
8. Wine Enthusiast - Mike Lynch (vol.15, 2002)
9. Personnages du Vignoble Nantais -Jean Yves Picoron (2003)
10. Voyage dans les Grands Muscadet a travers terroirs et saveurs -Delanoe and Pujol (2004)
11. The New York Times -Eric Asimov (Aug 30, 2010)
-----
Original French Text

"La Chapelle-Hullin, La Haye, Le Loroux, Le Pallet, Maisdon et Saint Fiacre produisent des vins doux, légers, d'un goût agréable et qui se conservent assez bien." (Andre Jullien, 1832)
-
"Les viticulteurs du siècle dernier ne supposaient pas qu'il pût ètre conservé plus de trois ou quatre ans en barrique, tandis qu'on pouvait garder les bons crùs indéfiniment en bouteilles." (A. Andouard, 1889)
-
"Lorsqu'il est d'une bonne récolte, il s'améliore ainsi pendant 15 ou 20 ans." (A. Andouard, 1889)
-
"1868... La récolte fut abundante sans excès. Le vin d'un haut degré et très bouqueté. Tous les hommes qui ont vécu la fin du siècle dernier ont bu quelques bouteilles de ce délicieux 68. Il s'est conservé 30 ans en bouteilles sans s'amoindrir." (J. de Camiran, 1937)
-
"La rencontre entre deux talents ne peut que générer du bonheur. Ce fut le cas quand le restauranteur clissonais Serge Poiron se rendit chez le viticulteur maisdonnais Joseph Ollivier. Que peuvent-ils bien se raconter sur les hauteurs des coteaux de Maisdon-sur-Sèvre, au Domaine de la Grenaudiere? Ce froid lundi matin de février 1991, ils ne se noient pas dans les mots.

Serge et son collaborateur terminent cette dégustation en apothéose avec un 1947. Même qu'en une telle circonstance, dégustation ou pas, il n'est plus question de cracher! Et même que le verre vide depuis longtemps, on y replonge le nez!"
(Jean-Yves Picoron, 2003)
-
"Une tradition plus récente du vignoble est celle de la barrique du noce préparée spécialement lorsqu'on mariait un enfant de la famille; ce qui n'avait pas été consommé était mis en bouteilles après la noce et gardé pour d'autres événements de la vie familiale. Cette mise en bouteilles tardive, sans soutirage préalable, donnait au Muscadet de la rondeur, du gras et une puissance aromatique qui le transformaient et lui permettaient de se bonifier au cours du temps, certains millésimes pouvant atteindre une grande qualité après plusieurs années de vieillissement. Apparemment anecdotique, l'histoire de la barrique de noce fait partie de la légende du vignoble de Nantes et, en même temps, confirme le potentiel de garde du Muscadet." (Delanoe & Pujol, 2004)
 
I was aware by the early 1980s that Muscadet could age, although it was rarely aged outside the region. I would have thought that my source was Hubrecht Duijker's The Wines of the Loire, Alsace, and Champagne, copyright in Dutch of 1981, in English of 1983; but quickly looking through the book now, I see no mention of aging capacity.

Roger Voss's The Wines of the Loire (copyright 1995) talks about tasting aged Muscadet in the cellars of some familiar names (see pp. 189-191).

Interestingly, the 1953 edition of Lichine's Wines of France says that very little of the wine is ever shipped out of the district except to a few restaurants. It also says that prior to the appellation laws, Muscadet "was openly blended with Chablis to stretch the supply of that rare and famous wine."
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
It also says that prior to the appellation laws, Muscadet "was openly blended with Chablis to stretch the supply of that rare and famous wine."
Click to expand...
fb would surely approve.
 
Ils vieillissent bien et lorsqu'ils "Bourgogne", quel délice lorsqu'ils accompagnent alors un buerre blanc.

- S. Blanchet, Les Vins du Val de Loire, commenting on Michel Chiron's Muscadets.
 
Splendid, Don. A friend and I were just discussing old Muscadet this evening (mostly, how difficult it is to get any in the US or the UK).
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Huh, the Moulin-a-Vent of the Nantais.
Click to expand...

It's a different type of match, but increasingly I'm telling the sommeliers I work with that it (aged Muscadet) is a good alternative to white Burgundy during a meal. Of course, it's not as if there are thousands of bottles left, but I am enormously gratified when drinks their first sip of a '99 Le "L" d'Or with a flash-grilled scallop and they ask the sommelier more about the wine.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:


Interestingly, the 1953 edition of Lichine's Wines of France says that very little of the wine is ever shipped out of the district except to a few restaurants. It also says that prior to the appellation laws, Muscadet "was openly blended with Chablis to stretch the supply of that rare and famous wine."
Click to expand...

Hi Claude,
I looked in Lichine too; the 1958 ed. (same result, obviously.)

An interesting follow-up to the Muscadet/Chablis connection is in Pamela Vandyke Price's "French Vintage" (1986). Have you heard of it?

"A disaster in another vineyard did, in the winter of 1956-57, prove long-term helpful to Muscadet. That extremely severe winter destroyed a vast number of vines in Chablis, which, up to that time, had enjoyed a supreme position as 'the' wine for smart people to drink with most fish. Cynics have estimated that the amount of 'Chablis" sold (by the glass or carafe) exceeded the total production of the Chablis vineyard.

So, the catering trade and those shipping Chablis in bulk were immediately looking for a wine to replace the rare and even more costly Chablis in 1957 onwards. This was when Muscadet really began to come into its own." (p31-32)

Cheers.
 
originally posted by Yixin:
Ils vieillissent bien et lorsqu'ils "Bourgogne", quel délice lorsqu'ils accompagnent alors un buerre blanc.

- S. Blanchet, Les Vins du Val de Loire, commenting on Michel Chiron's Muscadets.
Click to expand...

Good find. I like Blanchet. Others here might, too. For all its density (mid '80s production stats for every producer with more than 2ha, and there are thousands of 'em), I find it a fun volume to browse. There's a quirky lightness to her editorial touch - the drawings, the bilingual domaine blurbs, which I enjoy.

Have you seen her "Les Vins de Bourgogne"? Tucked into it are Sancerre, Pouilly and the satellite Sauvignon blanc communities of Menetou-salon, Quincy and Reuilly. Not to mention Beaujolais.
 
originally posted by Steve Edmunds:
Joseph Ollivier looks a little like Jerry Lee Lewis.
Click to expand...

Haw. Here's a question: Is Joseph is related to Marc Ollivier? Are there hundreds of Olliviers in Maisdon? My (unreliable) gut says he's Marc's uncle.
 
Your reliable gut is quite possibly correct. SFJoe and others here have in recent years had various vintages of Domaine de La Grenaudière, between 1969 and 1983, from Marc's uncle Joseph. Not all bottles have been intact, though there have been some lively beauties among them. I wouldn't say any of them were on a level of Clos des Briords (or my projection of Clos des Briords at future similar points of maturity).

The photo above is from some time later than 1973, so the cohort would seem to be correct. Though I detect no family resemblance.

Oh, and I don't think there are hundreds of people in Maisdon, Ollivier or otherwise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top