2017 Luneau-Papin Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur lie Terre de Pierre, Loire Valley

Vines planted in 1974 on one of the highest and most exposed sites in Muscadet, La Butte de la Roche, in the village of Loroux-Bottereau. Here, the terroir is based on rare 500 million-year-old Serpentinite (pictured above). The juice is cold-settled then fermented with native yeasts and matured on lees for 17 months without racking.

As any committed Muscadet fan will know, this is sourced from fairly aged vines, planted in 1974, on the serpentinite terroir of the Butte de la Roche. The aromatics are charming and correct, showing a smoky and salty style, certainly in a reductive vein, but with a pungent substance too. The palate, meanwhile, seems content to communicate primarily its sense of breadth and generosity right now, albeit cut with tension and a note of bitter citrus pith. Long, delightfully bitter and overall an attractive style.

95 points thewinedoctor.com Feb 2019