Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur Lie Chateau Thebaud 2022 750ml

100% Melon de Bourgogne. The Pépière holding in the cru of Château Thébaud is 14 hectares of vines up to 65 years old on a south-facing slope. The key soil component is granite de Thébaud, different from say the granite de Clisson in its higher feldspar and clay content–this means more nutrients for the vines, cooler soil temperatures, slower ripening, better water retention and a porosity that allows the roots to go deep to the hard granite mother rock. The farming is organic and harvest and all work by hand.

As for the rest of the Pepière wines, the fruit is direct-pressed in whole clusters and the juice settled naturally for 12 hours. It is then fermented in stainless steel tanks with natural yeasts; the wine is aged on its lees in large underground vats until bottling without fining or filtering. Thébaud needs longer aging on the lees than any of the other wines, usually at least 3 years. It is typically the most austere, intensely salty and mineral of the line-up.