Le Besson 2023

Jérémie is a third-generation winemaker in the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation, located southeast of Nantes. After traveling the world, he returned home and was inspired to craft cleaner, low-intervention wines. In 2014, he began converting to organic viticulture and was certified by 2020. His estate, just 50 km from the Atlantic, offers a unique range of soils that contribute to the character of their wines. He produce five still cuvées, all made from the same grape, Melon de Bourgogne, each sourced from different single vineyard sites, showcasing a variety of soils such as sandy loam, gabbros, clay-siliceous, gneiss, and biotite granite. The varying lees aging—ranging from 6 to 24 months—further enhances the minerality, finesse, and typicity of each cuvée. Winemaking Detail: Hand-harvested from one plot of 40/50 year old vines on metamorphic soil with gabbro. Their oldest vines. Lightly pressed and then allowed to settle, followed by fermentation. Fermentation and ageing in traditional underground cement tanks lined with tiles, under controlled temperature. The wine is then racked on fine lees with a little battonage, before being aged on lees for 18 months with battonage during the first 3 months.

Hand-harvested from one plot of 40/50 year old vines on metamorphic soil with gabbro. Their oldest vines. Lightly pressed and then allowed to settle, followed by fermentation. Fermentation and ageing in traditional underground cement tanks lined with tiles, under controlled temperature. The wine is then racked on fine lees with a little battonage, before being aged on lees for 18 months with battonage during the first 3 months.

A concentrated and dense nose of ripe lemon; lime and fresh sea air. The palate is well structured; steely and lean with huge wash of limey acidity; notes of ripe gooseberry. Acidity predominates throughout giving way to some pear; cooked apple and lemon. The finish is intense with a lovely mineral saltiness that lingers.

Crab, Pasta, Scallops, Sole

The Loire, France's longest river, is home to many much celebrated and quintessential French grapes. From the once ubiquitous-in-the-UK Melon de Bourgogne by the Atlantic coast, to the home of Sauvignon Blanc in Sancerre, via some of the world's best Chenin and crunchy Cabernet Franc, Gamay & Pinots. There is quality all around. Being at the northernly limit for winemaking, the wines are hallmarked by their crisp, fresh, crunchy fruit and high acidity, where reds may sometimes struggle to ripen and whites nearly overdeliver on acidity. The 69 appellations that make up the larger region are grouped into smaller sub-regions with predominantly single variety wines leading the way. As you move east the climate changes markedly from maritime to continental as the soils change from flint and limestone to the hard granite of central France.