Gift set: AOC Muscadet Sèvres et Maine sur lie

As early as 1925, even before the creation of the AOCs, the "Muscadet Grands Crus de Sèvre et Maine" designation obtained legal recognition. The Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine AOC followed in 1936 and became the heart of the Nantes vineyard, with more than 80% of the land claimed under Muscadet.

As for "sur lie," it is said to have been born from a very human habit: winemakers would keep a barrel of their best wine on its lees to celebrate family events the following spring. The trick caught on. Today, a Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie is aged on its fine lees in the winery, following a long aging process without aeration, then bottled directly from there. This contact gives it richness, an unexpected roundness for such a lively wine, saline notes, and sometimes a slight "perlant," those little bubbles that tickle the palate.

In the vineyard, the landscape unfolds a beautiful mosaic of Armorican Massif soils—granite, gneiss, schist, and gabbro—and the Melon de Bourgogne grape expresses itself differently from one hillside to the next. On the granitic sands of Clisson, it becomes taut, lemony, and mineral. On the clays derived from the weathering of gabbro in Gorges, it gains depth and structure.

It is here that the appellation reaches new heights. Clisson and Gorges are among the first communal crus, recognized in 2011, with lower yields and eighteen months of aging on the lees. In 2019, four new crus joined them: Goulaine, Monnières-Saint-Fiacre, Château-Thébaud, and Mouzillon-Tillières, each with its own soil and signature.

Muscadet, long relegated to the role of oyster companion, reveals a depth and aromatic palette that still surprises those who thought they knew everything about it, as the six bottles in this case allow you to discover.