Le bon Muscadet

As a long-term devotee of cool French Beaujolais, I feel similarly at ease with a glass of what for me has always been its white counterpart, Muscadet. Both wines have had their highs and lows in terms of quality and public appreciation in recent years. But in my days of bracing summer holidays with my two eldest children in Normandy and Brittany, of sojourns in Dieppe (which used to boast the best cheese shop in northern France) and Honfleur,  Muscadet seemed the acme of wines to quaff with a pint of prawns or a rich seafood stew on one or another of the harbour fronts I frequented. 

A simple Muscadet was then the most appetising of wines, before it degenerated into something more often harsh and sharp and the once enticing name on the label was somerhing you passed with a shudder if you spotted it in a wine shop. 

The only safeguard lay in the tag “sur lie” amid  the label information alongside the words “Muscadet Sevre-et-Maine.”  This served as a guarantee  that the wine had rested ”on its lees” for a period and had  thereby gained the tang and petillance which made a good Muscadet the experience it was.  Since 1994, stricter rules have been applied to how long the wine needs to be rested beneficially in this way. 

 I still recall  once trudging through Dieppe carrying a visibly identifiable case of wine with this guarantee,  thus prompting the odd passer-by to exclaim “Ah, le bon Muscadet” as I approached. It always seemed one of the nice things about France that the sight of a simple but admirable wine could arouse such an exclamaition of appreciation from people out shopping. The simplicity, of course, was the thing. Muscadet was not a posh wine, a Pouilly Fume or a Sancerre from the higher reaches of the Loire. It was something cheeringly domestic, very cheap even in its “sur lie” version and well worth drinking.

Today, having regained its popularity in Britain, it is not quite so cheap, yet still enough of a bargain  to buy without feeling that you have been overspending. And a truly good Muscadet - such as the 2013 Fief Guerin, which Waitrose is currently selling for £7.99 - has a firmness of structure along with the slight floral prickle that makes it a fine accompaniment for fish dishes as well as a good aperitif. The cheaper 2013 Champteloup sur lie is certainly a Waitrose bargain at £5.99, and good Muscadets can also be found at present  in other British supermarkets.  

30 June 2014