“Jubilation Le Pallet” Muscadet Sèvre & Maine Le Pallet
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Late-release, “cru” Muscadet is all the rage in Europe right now for good reason, and this example comes from what is arguably the finest cru in Muscadet!
- Extremely long time on lees (18 months) provides this wine with unreal texture.
- Soil here is a combination of granite, gneiss, and gabbro. You almost never see this soil combination in France and it gives a remarkable singularity to this wine.
Varietal Composition: 100% Melon de Bourgogne
Elaboration: Alcoholic fermentation in underground vats and completed by a part in oak barrels. Only a small part of the cuvée completes a malolactic fermentation to bring roundness and complexity. The wine then rests on fine lees for more than 18 months to give it all its richness
Tasting Notes: Pretty pale gold color. Intense and complex nose dominated by very ripe aromas of white fruits accompanied by raisins, ground almonds, nutmeg and biscuits. In the mouth, the frank attack precedes a rich and ample evolution, itself followed by a very persistent and mineral finish.
PRESS
2014 – 91 Decanter
PRODUCER BACKGROUND
This is a fairly small, atypical coop of 10 members, all from Le Pallet in the heart of Muscadet. All 10 members have their own properties, they bottle and sell a part of their production themselves and another part goes to the coop for use in a larger appellation “blend.” The President is one of the owners and so is the winemaker. The facilities are at one member’s winery. “Le Pallet” the vineyard is one of the Crus of Muscadet, there are seven crus in all, and is considered by many as the best. The soil is interesting, the northwest part of the town consists of light colored rocks (Roches Blanches) mixed with sand and the southwest area is dark colored (Roches Noires) and sand. Their “Jubilation” bottling referenced above represents a new movement in the appellation towards intense, bottle aged Muscadet with better selection, later harvesting, and longer aging on the lees. These wines are very different, more serious, fuller and real aging potential. For some odd reason wines in this category cannot be called “sur lie” although they stay much longer on them.