Domaine de la Pépière, Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Clos des Briords Cuvée Vieille Vignes 2023

Marc Ollivier of Domaine de la Pepiere is an example of a winemaker who has grown with his vines. In the early 1980’s Marc, who was an engineer at the time, decided to move to the country for a slower pace of life. His father owned some vineyards in the cool Atlantic-influenced zone of Muscadet-Sèvre et Maine but was not a winemaker. Marc took over his father’s vineyards and bought a parcel called Clos de Briords from an elderly neighbor. Marc’s first vintage was 1985 and his primary goal as a winemaker at the time was to simply complete fermentation. As such, he began fermentation using cultured yeasts and finished the wine off with a dose of SO2. As Marc matured as a winemaker, he experimented with ambient yeasts and began bottling with minimal amounts of SO2. The results were extraordinary; the wines showed greater depth, richness and complexity.

Encouraged by his success, Marc began transitioning all his vineyards to organic and continued his minimalist approach in the winery. His racy, lemon-tinged, mineral-driven Muscadets have since become the benchmark for the region and have opened up a world of previously unknown potential in the area. Marc’s success is combination of good fortune (his vineyards were never touched by wine consultants encouraging new, higher yield clones) and an open minded, experimental approach to making the best possible wines.

Some points: Many of Marc’s vines are 40+ years old and some of his vineyards are planted on granite soils, a rarity in the region. • All the vineyards are from original stock: Ollivier is the only grower in the Muscadet who does not have a single clonal selection in his vineyards • Marc Ollivier hand harvests (a rarity in the region) and uses only natural yeasts for fermentation. • Extended lees contact, often till April
or May of the following year, adds added depth to the wines.