Hope you're all staying warm. C, J August 30, 2010 Freeing Muscadet From a Pigeonhole By ERIC ASIMOV THE subject today is Muscadet, so let.s dispense with the obvious right away: oysters. Most people, if they know one important thing about Muscadet, know that oysters are its natural partner. True, true, true. Oysters and Muscadet are glorious together, the briny, mineral-laden quality of one enhancing the other. You could say the same thing, though, about Chablis, and about Sancerre, and if the issue may not be quite so cut and dried about blanc de blancs Champagne, who ever is going to complain about being saddled with oysters and blanc de blancs? The truth about Muscadet is that its virtues extend well beyond oysters. Many seafood dishes would go well with Muscadet, as well as light poultry preparations and pasta dishes, too, if you are willing to break the ethnic boundaries that channel so many wine choices. Apart from food pairings, Muscadet is just plain delicious, providing you are open to what it does best. Muscadet, like Chablis and Sancerre, is not a gobs-of-fruit sort of wine. Yes, one can often sense citrus qualities in Muscadet. But more often, it is a stony, mineral sensation . felt as much as tasted . along with herbal, saline and floral aromas that characterize Muscadet. Texture, I think, is a vastly underrated quality in a wine, and texture is an essential quality of good Muscadet. It.s what impels you to take sip after sip, simply because it feels so good. For all of Muscadet.s assets, the best of all might be its price. Given the high quality of the top Muscadets, made by dedicated small producers, they are insanely cheap, rarely more than $20 for current vintages, and often less than $15. Finding the good ones is the problem. A lot of mediocre bulk wines in the marketplace have contributed to Muscadet.s reputation, in some circles, as dull, anonymous and overly lean. That.s why the wine panel is here, of course, to help identify the good ones. And in a tasting of 20 bottles of Muscadet from recent vintages, we found many wines we could happily recommend. Florence Fabricant and I were joined for the tasting by Pascaline Lepeltier, the wine director at Rouge Tomate on the East Side of Manhattan, and Byron Bates, a sommelier and consultant. .Great to taste, great to drink, great to pair with food, at a great price,. said Pascaline, who, even if English is not her first language, showed an impressive grasp of sloganeering. She pretty much summed it up for all of us. Muscadet is made on the western end of the Loire Valley from the melon grape, which can be rather thin and neutral. To give the wine added richness and texture, most good Muscadet producers allow the wine to rest for months on the lees, or sediment, that accumulate during fermentation. This process, indicated by the French .sur lie. on the label, softens the wine and gives it greater depth. It can also result in trapping a little carbon dioxide in the wine, which can give it a bit of sparkle. Not content with the sur lie treatment, some producers are doing even more, fermenting their wine in barrels, or stirring the lees as the wine rests, in the manner of many chardonnay and white Burgundy estates. Apparently, these producers are not using new oak barrels, as we did not find a problem with oaky wines. So far, I would have to judge these experiments as successful. Our favorite was the 2008 Andre-Michel Béeon, which was fresh and tangy, qualities we prize in young Muscadets, and had the rich texture and pronounced mineral flavors that characterized our favorites. At $14, it was also our best value. Fifteen of the 20 bottles we tasted were from the 2009 vintage, and the remaining five were .08. Good Muscadet ages exceptionally well, sometimes taking on the kerosene flavor of older rieslings, and developing a surprising complexity. But unless you are buying from a store that specializes in Loire Valley wines, I.d be skeptical of bottles older than a couple of years. Chances are they.ve been sitting around in storage conditions that are less than the best. Our No. 2 wine was the 2009 Châau des Fromenteaux Clos du Poyet from Famille Luneau, and in that mouthful Luneau is the most important word. Pierre Luneau-Papin is one of the region.s top growers and producers, and makes a half-dozen or so Muscadets under his own name, generally differentiated by vineyard or the type of soil in which the grapes were grown. This wine comes from a property owned by Mr. Luneau-Papin.s daughter (hence the name Famille Luneau), but Mr. Luneau-Papin himself makes the wine, which we found rich, deep and precise. His 2008 Pierre de la Grange, made under the Luneau-Papin name, also made our list at No. 8. This is his entry-level Muscadet, and is fresh and alive, though without the depth and nuances of the wines we rated higher. But really, just about any wine bearing his name is going to be very good. I could say the same about Muscadets from Jo Landron.s Domaine de la Louvetrie and Marc Ollivier.s Domaine de la Péè. Each offers a range of bottlings, from the simple and cheap to the complex and slightly less cheap. The Landron Fief du Breil, our No. 3 wine, was lively and complex, with floral and apple flavors, while the Ollivier Gras Mouton was bright and richly textured, with flavors more on the herbal side. These are among the most important names in Muscadet. One name not in our tasting, but well worth seeking out, is Domaine de L.Éu by Guy Bossard, who offers multiple bottlings based on soil types. All of the Muscadets that made our list offer plenty of pleasure, and rarely more so than when served with, you guessed it, oysters. As undeniably fine a pairing as that is, I urge you not to typecast Muscadet in the limited role of oyster wine. Imagine if Bogie were only permitted to play gangsters, or if Clint Eastwood had been stuck in westerns. Fun, yes, but we.d have missed out on an awful lot. Give a wine a chance to grow. Tasting Report: Good Buys Everywhere, Even at the Top BEST VALUE Andre-Michel Bréon, $14, *** ½ Muscadet de Sèe et Maine 2008 Tangy, fresh, deep and long, with savory, heavily mineral flavors. (Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, Calif.) Famille Luneau Muscadet de Sèe et Maine, $19, *** Châau des Fromenteaux Clos du Poyet Vieilles Vignes 2009 Rich, deep and precise with floral, mineral aromas and flavors. (Petit Pois, Moorestown, N.J.) Jo Landron Muscadet de Sèe et Maine, $20, *** Domaine de la Louvetrie Le Fief du Breil 2008 Fresh and lively with aromas and lingering flavors of flowers, minerals and apples. (Martin Scott Wines, Lake Success, N.Y.) Marc Ollivier Muscadet de Sèe et Maine, $17, ** ½ Domaine de la Péè Les Gras Mouton 2009 Bright, crisp and fresh with stony, herbal flavors and a rich texture. (Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, N.Y.) Domaine de la Pinardiè, $14, ** ½ Muscadet de Sèe et Maine 2009 Floral, herbaceous and savory with a wonderfully inviting texture. (Baron Françs, New York) Bonnet-Huteau Muscadet de Sèe et Maine, $12, ** ½ CuvéLa Levraudiè 2009 Deep and well-balanced with bright, chalky aromas . smells like oyster shells. (Weygandt-Metzer, Unionville, Penn.) Luc et Jéme Choblem Muscadet, $12, ** ½ Cô de Grandlieu Clos de la Séigerie 2009 Fresh and tart with steely citrus and mineral flavors. (Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, N.Y.) Luneau-Papin Muscadet de Sèe et Maine, $13, ** ½ Domaine Pierre de la Grange 2008 Meadow-fresh with tart citrus, floral and apple aromas and flavors. (Louis/Dressner Selections) Domaine de l'Auriè, $9, ** ½ Muscadet de Sèe et Maine 2009 Floral and stony, with lingering flavors and an inviting texture. (Fruit of the Vines, Long Island City, N.Y.) Châau la Noë$10, ** ½ Muscadet de Sèe et Maine 2009 Creamy and gentle, with soft aromas and flavors of herbs, flowers and minerals. (Nicolas Wines, Westport, Conn.) -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 * * james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *