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The Melon Grape


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About Melon

(Synonyms: Gamay Blanc, Latran, Melon de Bourgogne, Muscadet, Petit Bourgogne, Plant de Bourgogne)

Background

Map showing Nantes, home of Muscadet wines

Melonl is a white-wine grape originating, as its name suggests, in the Burgundy region of France. The grape name is not well known, but the wine made from it, Muscadet (always 100% Melon), is famous. Some Melon is grown in the U.S., chiefly in Oregon but now also in Washington State; such wines must be labelled by the grape name: “Muscadet” cannot be used of wines not made in that appellation. (The few American-made wines from this grape are often labelled “Melon de Bourgogne”.)

There was a mini-scandal a few years back when it turned out that a lot of grapes being grown in the Pacific Northwest as Pinot Blanc turned out to actually be Melon. Nowadays, the varietal labelling can be assumed to be accurate.

The Muscadet appellation is located at the western end of the Loire Valley wine area, and is centered on the town of Nantes, near the Atlantic coast. Within the appellation are three sub-appellations: Muscadet-Sèvre et Maine (whence about four in five Muscadets); Muscadet-Coteaux de la Loire; and the relatively recent (1994) Muscadet-Côtes de Grandlieu. Wines labelled simply “Muscadet” without one of those three sub-appellation tags are normally the most elementary specimens (and are forbidden by law from sur lie treatment—that is, from the lees contact that defines better bottlings). Differences between Muscadet wines from those regions exist, but are typically not dramatic.

Melon is considered a relatively bland and simple grape, and Muscadet was slowly sinking toward obvivion till the later twentieth century, when new techniques, such as extended lees contact (now a hallmark of better Muscadets, with the contact time a minimum specified by law), maceration, and even some oak aging came into play. There is today quite a spectrum of styles and quality (and price) for Muscadet wines.

Muscadets made sur lie, which is virtually all of the better ones, are normally marked by a subtle richness and greater fullness of body. Nowadays, some vintners accent that quality by stirring the wine as it rests on the lees, resulting in even greater contact. Muscadet is also the only wine that, by French law, cannot exceed 12% alcohol (the only such maximum specified in those laws).

Muscadet is ideally a very dry, sharp, acidic wine, thus quite “crisp”, and tasting strongly of minerality much more than of fruit (some even claim to detect a subtle “salty” quality, which is considered desireable); it is typically a light-bodied wine. It is often remarked that its best and highest use is as accompaniment to seafood, notably oysters, owing to that acid crispness, but it will in fact go well with any rich dish, especially creamy ones. It is a wine normally drunk while quite young, three years from bottling being about the limit for most. A few better specimens, however, can be aged up to a decade or so, presumably with some improvement but certainly with no loss.

One of the first things one notices about Muscadets is that most of the well-known makers produce quite a number of variant bottlings, often half a dozen each vintner, and often not drastically different in price within the same line; it is thus not a matter of saying get so-and-so’s X-dollars bottling. The reason for those various bottlings is to capture single-vineyard terroir, so it isn’t a matter of X being “better than” Y.

(When last we looked, Domaine de la Pépière had 7 Muscadet bottlings, Domaine De La Louvetrie had 8, and Domaine de l’Écu had 5, those three houses being the big guns of Muscadet.)

Factoid: Melon was introduced to the Pays Nantais region in the 17th century by Dutch traders looking for a sufficient source of neutral white wines that could be distilled into “brandewijn” (brandy).

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Some Descriptions of Melon Wines

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Some Melons to Try

(About this list.)

There are hosts of decent-or-better Muscadets out there, but a lot of them seem to be carried by only a few retailers. Culling for reasonable availability (and quality and price, of course), we came up with tis list, but we could easily have switched in any of several other close competitors.

Better-quality Muscadets tend to have very long names because they all attach the name of their appellation—for most good ones, that’s “Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine”, though the “Muscadet-Côtes de Grandlieu” appellation is now getting some love.

Then there’s that sur lie tag (signifying that the wine was aged on the lees, adding quality). Almost half of the wines made in the Muscadet-Sèvre et Maine appellation are aged sur lie—and that fraction includes virtually all the better bottlings.

Put them all together, along with the maker’s pet name for the bottling, and you get a full name that calls for a “Gesundheit” after saying it. Nonetheless, for full accuracy, we reproduce in the list those full names. Enjoy.

(Oh, yes: the actual bottle labels are even worse, because besides stating, for example, “Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine”, they have to also let you know “Appellation Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine Controlée”, lest you think that any old body can put the appellation on a wine label. Wine laws: as Beetlejuice would say, “Y'know I love ’em!”


Domaine la Haute Févrie Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie “Les Gras Moutons”
(Gras Moutons means “fat sheep”.)

• This wine’s Wine Searcher “Reviews” page.
• This wine’s CellarTracker review pages.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by Wine Searcher.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by 1000 Corks.



Domaine Girard Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie “Tradition”

• This wine’s Wine Searcher “Reviews” page.
• This wine’s CellarTracker review pages.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by Wine Searcher.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by 1000 Corks.



Lieu Dit Melon
(A California Melon de Bourgogne bottling using grapes from the famed Bien Nacido vineyard; and yes, made sur lie.)

• This wine’s Wine Searcher “Reviews” page.
    CellarTracker has two separate listings for this wine:
• This wine’s CellarTracker review pages.
• This wine’s CellarTracker review pages.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by Wine Searcher.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by 1000 Corks.



Domaine de la Fruitière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie “Gneiss de Bel Abord”

• This wine’s Wine Searcher “Reviews” page.
• This wine’s CellarTracker review pages.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by Wine Searcher.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by 1000 Corks.



Domaine de L’Aujardière Muscadet Côtes de Grand Lieu Sur Lie “La Noë”
(Not a Sèvre-et-Maine! From the newer Muscadet appellation.)

• This wine’s Wine Searcher “Reviews” page.
• This wine’s CellarTracker review pages.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by Wine Searcher.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by 1000 Corks.

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For a Splurge

We found no Muscadets enough better than those listed above as to justify a “splurge” price.

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