WTN: 01 Landron

Last night with a mostly veg- and seafood-focused dinner, I noticed the wine list had a bunch of older vintages of Landron's Muscadets, so after consulting with the somm we went with a Domaine de la Louvetrie 2001 Muscadet Sèvre et Main Sur Lie "Le Fief du Breil." Still remarkably fresh, medium-yellow, waxy roasted pineapple up front, shifting toward drier, greener, and more rocky notes on the palate, and becoming a little spiced on the finish especially with air; there's still a core of acidity here, but with soft enough edges to let the richness of the wine come through. Shows a slightly different face with each glass and alongside each course. The combination of nearly tropical fruit with austere minerality makes this a very different expression of older Muscadet than I've encountered before (mainly from Pepière's Clos des Briords), and it's totally engaging.

[David M. Bueker]

Sounds good.

I have zero concept of 2001 as a vintage for the region.

Seeing this wine on a winelist I would be tempted too!

I don't really either, although I recall that it was the first vintage from which I drank copious quantities of Pepière, so it couldn't have been too bad. The somm suggested the 2001 and the 2003 had both shown well recently; I didn't so much choose the 2001 as reflexively reject the 2003.