Jo Landron Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Le Fief du Breil 2017 (6 Bottles) Muscadet, France

by Fine Wine Cellars

$393.00 GST Included

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Le Fief du Breil comes from a single, six-hectare biodynamically farmed vineyard, situated on a south-facing slope above the Sèvre river in La Haye-Fouassière. Fief is a term from the Middle Ages which means a piece of land once associated with (and probably owned by) the local Abbey or Duke. This in turn infers quality, as the local rulers tended to keep the best parcels for themselves. Breil means ‘next to the forest’, indicating the woodland this parcel borders. The vines are also surrounded by old walls, another sign of its historical significance.

The soils here are rich in silex (flint), river pebbles, quartz and granite, all laid over a bedrock of orthogneiss–a geologically complex site. While Muscadet is generally flat, Jo notes that this vineyard is on “a hill by local standards”. The vines are also open directly to the south, an ideal exposure to produce one of the region’s benchmarks. The vines here are 45 years old; Landron prunes very short, and also shoot-thins to restrict yields.

While 2016 was an annus horribilis in terms of yields (Le Fief du Breil was cropped at a miserly 14 hl/ha) the resulting wine is out of this world. Hand-harvested, of course, the wine was slowly and naturally fermented before being raised in Landron’s large, subterranean cement tanks. This bottling has spent a full 30 months on its lees, resulting in the sort of multi-layered complexity that is about as far removed from the regional stereotype as can be imagined.

Described by one French critic as an archetype of great Muscadet, Landron’s 2016 is a marriage of earthy, mineral punch matched with fleshy texture and the crunch of stringent acidity. The wine unfurls in layers of sharply focussed crushed stone, smoky citrus and hazelnut complexity, intertwined with the undertone of peat smoke that we often see in this cuvée. It finishes long and bright with what Landron describes as a pleasing amertume (or bitterness), although we would perhaps describe this as grip. This is something special that Loire lovers should not miss.

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REVIEWS

“The wines of Jo Landron are now the reference in the – too small – genre of terroir driven Muscadet.” La Revue du Vin de France

“Jo Landron remains one of his region’s most conspicuous over-achievers, and his name (or that of one of the domaines with which he is affiliated) on the label a virtual guarantor of fine quality.” David Schildknecht

TASTING NOTES

Much like the man himself, the engaging Muscadets of Jo Landron brim with life and personality. These finely-etched soil-specific wines represent the antithesis of the bland, neutral, overcropped produce that has sadly become the regional norm. Jo Landron, who learnt to farm the land from his father, took control of the family domaine 1990. His philosophy, driven by the conviction that the essence of great Muscadet is expressed through the minerality of its terroir, has raised the regional bar so high that only the granite-infused bottling from the great Guy Bossard rivals these Muscadets for sheer intensity of flavour and distinctive, electric energy.

The unique expression of Landron’s cuvées are the result of the diversity of soil types that are found within his vineyards. All are farmed organically using biodynamic practises. Vines are planted densely (8,000 per acre) to naturally control yields, which are kept to a maximum 8 bunches per vine, lower in some cases. Yields stay between 40 and 45 hl/ha – incredibly low by Muscadet standards – and naturally no herbicides or pesticides are used.

Manual ploughing and hand harvesting are followed by a direct, soft pneumatic, pressing of whole clusters. Only indigenous yeasts are used, and after a cool fermentation lasting 15-20 days, the wines are aged in glass-lined temperature-controlled cement vats, on their lees for 7-12 months. At this point, the wines are bottled using gravity flow. This traditional, minimalist approach preserves the natural freshness and minerality that is a trademark of the very best wines of this genre.

Like the Muscadet of fellow visionary (and friend) Guy Bossard, you’ll notice how much more amplitude and texture, not to mention minerality and softer acidity, these Muscadet’s possess. As well as being among the finest vignerons of the wider Loire Valley, these are the two avant-garde Nantes producers that are ploughing the front line in a mini Muscadet Renaissance, producing lovely wines that refuse to be pigeon-holed.

These are wines of Riesling like freshness and clarity yet with the mineral drive of a Dauvissat Chablis. They represent some of the finest quality/price white values from Europe today. If you think you know all you need to know about Muscadet, but have not tried these wines, then… time to think again.

Fine Wine Cellars

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