Two days in Muscadet: 21st and 22nd September (part one)

2010 Melon in one of the Luneau-Papin's vineyards

Domaine Pierre Luneau-Papin

Yesterday we got to Domaine Pierre Luneau-Papin (Le Landreau) just after midday on another glorious September day. By mid-afternoon the temperature was up to 27.5˚. The Luneaus are in the middle of vintage and concentrating on the best parcels that they pick by hand, which they expect to finish on Thursday. Then the rest will be harvested by machine. The fruit isn’t quite as perfect as last year as there is a little bit of rot caused by a small amount of rain around 15^th August. In Le Landreau they only had 15mm but in nearby Clisson it was 30mm. Even so they are having to pick selectively to avoid any rot. However, overall here it is very dry with little rain falling from April.

Understandably Pierre and Monique, their son – Pierre-Marie – and Marie, their daughter are very happy with the quality of the fruit again this year. “The Ban des Vendanges for Muscadet was on the 8^th September but we started last Tuesday (14^th),” said Pierre. “Grapes from the young vines are coming in at 10.9˚-11˚ potential, while from older vines it’s between 11.1˚ and 11.7˚. Acidity levels are between 4.2 – 4.3 grams per litre, which means that they will end up around 4.”

Pierre-Marie added: “The yields are lower than we expected – 35 hl/ha in our cru vineyards compared to 45 hl/ha last year. When pressed the grapes don’t give a lot of juice and the skins are thick.

We tasted juice from various parcels. All were very clean and quite rich with some freshness in the finish.

Luneau-Papin: hand-picked Melon awaiting processing

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Guy analysing his 15% Melon

Guy Bossard

The next visit was to Guy (Le Landreau), who is just up the road. He was always very happy with how the vintage is going, although he is somewhat concerned that the juice from the end of the pressing is an extraordinary 15˚. Overall the potential alcohol levels are between 12.5˚ and 13˚ with the acidity between 4.5 and 4.7. ‘We started on the 8th,” said Guy. ‘In the morning we picked Pinot Noir for our sparkling and then Melon in the afternoon.” (Melon de Bourgogne is the only grape permitted for Muscadet.) "Not only is the quality of the grapes good but we are also getting a decent yield – 50 hl/ha." In 2007 and 2008 Guy had tiny yields due in the former year to mildew and then April frost the following year.

I tasted the juice of Guy's range of Muscadets and all were rich and clean. "We got two more days of harvest left," said Guy. He told me that he had had a phone call from Mark Angeli, the well-known producer and wag in Thouarcé in the Layon. When Mark heard the alcoholic degrees Guy was getting in his 2010 grapes, he remarked "Well for once you are going to have ripe grapes!"

Some of Guy's 2010 crop


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Joseph Landron picking 21.9.2010

Joseph Landron (La Haye Fouassière)
Like the Luneaus and Guy Bossard, Joseph is pleased with the 2010 vintage although there is some rot that has to be cut out. Some of this rot has dried out and become botrytised. 

"We started on 10th September," he explained. "Our degrees are not as high as Guy's – around 11.8% with the acidity around 4.8 grams per litre.  We are getting between 50 and 55 hl/ha and the juice is pure, elegant and fruity. Although we harvest our best parcels by hand and I prefer to harvest by hand with 45ha I have no option but to harvest some by machine. The harvest lasts about ten days. The problem with Muscadet is that we don't really get the price per bottle that justifies picking selectively. However, I still do it."

His parting words were on the UK market. "England is my worst market. It just hasn't been possible to find a good importer." I assured him that he wasn't alone and that there are many good producers who find the UK to be an impossible market to break into. Probably because we are so fixated on price.

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Grapes waiting to be processed@Chasseloir

Bernard Chereau – Chereau-Carré (Saint-Fiacre)
Our last visit in Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine was to see Bernard Chereau at Château Chasseloir. "We started picking last Thursday and continued on Friday when we picked our other domaines including Château l'Oiselinière," said Bernard. "We moved onto Chasseloir yesterday and we have about another week's picking to do. The quality is good with around 12% potential and between 4-4.5 gms/litre acidity. It has been dry – this hasn't been a problem for our old vines but the younger vines have suffered. We haven't needed to treat against mildew since the 10th July."

The juice here again was clean with considerable weight.