2015 Michel Delhommeau St. Vincent

2015 Michel Delhommeau St. Vincent

Who: Michel Delhommeau

What: Melon du Bourgogne

Where: Muscadet-Sevre et Maine, Loire, France

Tastes Like: Flint, white flowers, with a lush, creamy texture.
Pairs With: Classic oyster pairing, but Frutti di Mare or the Marinated Artichoke is its new best friend.

The Where and The What: Muscadet is the largest white wine appellation of France. Several smaller

appellations make up the general area of Muscadet including Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie, Muscadet

Coteaux de la Loire, and Muscadet Coteaux des Grands Lieux. The most famous is Muscadet Sèvre et Maine

Sur Lie. One of the only appellations to require ageing on the lees and to name this requirement in the name

of the appellation, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie only comes from the best parcels of the region and must

follow strict guidelines. The Melon de Bourgogne grape, also called Muscadet, was brought to the region

centuries ago from Burgundy. It flourished in this new environment and became famous in France for its

ability to complement the saltiest of oysters and shellfish of the region.  It is rarely planted elsewhere, and the

region and the grape are so closely associated that they are often erroneously considered to be synonymous.

The Who:

Brittany, parts of Normandy, and the western part of the Loire Valley are essentially built on a foundation of cooled lava and magma. Over millions of years this lava has metamorphosed into many kinds of geological structures. The most common in the Loire is granite, and in Muscadet it is everywhere. Vineyards are carved out of its hard surface and the hallmark minerality that it helps to produce makes Muscadet one of the great white wines of the world. In one village in the Muscadet region, Monnières, this cooled lava didn't change into granite. Instead it stayed relatively unchanged and today is called gabbro. It is one of the purest forms of molten magma, as it forms underground and turns crystalline without access to air.

Michel and Nathalie Delhommeau own 27 hectares of vines planted on this gabbro. Some of their holdings are old vines planted before World War II. The property, which is in conversion to organic certification, is one of the few in the region to vinify by parcel and use indigenous yeast. The wines are simply made but not simple. There is no wood aging. there is very little stirring of the lees. There are no fancy techniques. The grapes are harvested, they are gently crushed, they ferment naturally, and then they take a long winter's nap until March. It is above all the gabbro that is is the loudest voice in this conversation. Michel deliberately separates the juices from vines of different ages and keeps yields low, lending his wines a complex and elegant minerality more commonly associated with Chablis than Muscadet. The St. Vincent vines are 25 years old, and the wine spends 5 months on the lees before bottling.