Domaine Gadais - Muscadet Les Perrieres Monopole 2023 750ml (12% abv)

no regular muscadet! this is serious, single vineyard, old vine melon de bourgogne

1.4 ha parcel, hand picked, unfined, unfiltered

 a south-facing, gneiss-laden hillside, this Muscadet carries the soul of its terroir. With vines averaging 40 years old, its Melon de Bourgogne is carefully fermented in 300L barrels, embracing natural yeasts for a slow, expressive transformation. Aged 18 months on lees with early bâtonnage, a Burgundian richness. delivers depth, persistence, and elegance, a rare Muscadet with both power and poise.

that the Gadais family only bottles their les Perrières cuvée in top vintages, when they feel that their other bottlings will not suffer from its exclusion. This bottling is barrel-fermented and aged in old oak casks, giving the wine a lovely hint of oak on both the nose and palate. The 2022 les Perrières is simply outstanding, with the bouquet hopping from the glass in a very complex blend of lemon, breadfruit, gentle leesy tones, lovely maritime brininess, dried flowers and a very delicate touch of oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused, complex and beautifully structured, with a lovely spine of acidity, superb transparency and core and impeccable balance on the long, youthful and very classy finish. This is an outstanding bottle of Muscadet in the making, but to my palate, it is still a tad primary and a couple of years in the cellar to allow it to stretch its wings will be very well rewarded!   94+ points, John Gilman,

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it was Louis Gadais, a gardener's son at the time, who decided in 1947 to concentrate his activity on wine production. An observant man with an unmatched palate, and a businessman at heart, his ambition was to do more than just produce an average wine. For him, going from tending vines to commercial bottle sales was the realisation of his passion. He was one of the first winemakers in Nantes to bottle his wines: at that time, winemakers produced wine in bulk and sold it all at the cooperative. It was only a matter of time before his wine would be marketed and exported. In 1958, Franck Schoonmaker, a trailblazer in the importation of high-quality French wines, paid a visit to Louis to purchase his wines. The following year, Domaine Gadais wines were already appearing on tables in New York. The story continues with the arrival of Louis’ sons Michel and Marcel, who would go on to develop the estate. The acquisition of coveted land in La Faubretière in 1973 further improved the quality of the wines. Thanks to low yields, contrary to the trend at the time, the quality of their wines was recognised on an international scale

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