Pages

▼

Friday, 11 March 2011

Louis Métaireau's 2010 Muscadets

2010 Grand Mouton and Petit Mouton

Louis Métaireau has long made some of the best Muscadets around. Sadly they are not available in the UK. They were imported by Louis Latour for a number of years but found them difficult to sell because, in the context of Muscadet, they are quite expensive. Consider them a fine white wines and they will no longer seem expensive. I see the difficulty of selling Métaireau's Muscadets in the UK as more a reflection on the market here than a reflection on the wines. 

Although they remain unavailable in the UK it was good to get the chance at the France Under One Roof tasting on Wednesday to taste cask samples of their 2010 – Grand and Petit Mouton, Muscadet  Sèvre et Maine sur lie. The 2010 Petit Mouton is very clean, lemony, precise and with good length. Sur lies cannot be bottled until 1st March following the vintage. As the Petit Mouton is ready to drink now I expect it will be bottled soon. The Grand Mouton has more concentration and needs more time, although it has attractive minerality in the finish.  

Any adventurous UK importer wanting to import a top Muscadet should contact Godefroy Baijot of GB Wines.


at

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous11 March 2011 at 15:00

    Jim,

    yes good Muscadet can be very fine. My wife has been quite converted to them, especially with fish - indeed as I pepare to cook a fish pie tonight I suddenly realised I think we have drunk all the Muscadet - ah well there is always the Alcase wines,


    Graham

    ReplyDelete
  2. Christopher Piper12 March 2011 at 09:56

    Jim,

    My old friends, the late George Pagendham and the late Ken Pratt, once ran a great wine importers in Moulton, Yorkshire. During the 1980's, Pagendham, Pratt and Partners used to bring in very serious quantities of Louis Métaireau's wonderful Muscadets and sold them extensively to the restaurant trade throughout the north of England. If it could be done then, maybe it could be done now! Must discuss with my buying team!

    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jim's Loire12 March 2011 at 10:28

    Chris. Would love to see you go for it.

    Jim

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12 March 2011 at 15:34

    It is all a question of hand-selling I think. In the store and certainly in the restaurant.
    *****Alert to all store owners, why is Muscadet always on the bottom shelf?

    Bob Alberta.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jim's Loire12 March 2011 at 16:48

    Bob I agree – certainly the Métaireau wines should be hand sold.

    ReplyDelete