Friday Sips

Join Us for Friday Sips!

MUSCADET-MANIA featuring Domaine de L'Ecu
Drop by to sample 3 prodigious dry white wines from one of France's finest producers listed below...We'll also uncork a red or two for sustenance




DOMAINE DE L'ECU
There is Muscadet and then there is Domaine de L'Ecu. After a long absence in our area, we are as excited as a Frenchman who has just found a carton of Gauloises or Gítanes to open all three of these dynamic dry white wines that express all of the Guy Bossard's different terroirs in their own unique way. Not to be confused with Muscat, the name Muscadet is the name of a region and the grape is Melon de Bourgogne and unlike Muscat, this grape which is suited to the Atlantic climate around the city of Nantes delivers wines that are bracingly dry. We think that you'll not only learn about these, you'll also enjoy drinking them as much as we do!


2010 DOMAINE DE L'ECU MUSCADET
"EXPRESSION DE GNEISS"
$19.99 BTL./$239.88 CASE

After visiting this prominent terroirist last year it was clear that this guy is the greatest producer in Muscadet. Virtually impossible to turn a profit farming biodynamically the way he does in this humble region, it amazes us that he can sell wines like this at such brilliant pricing. Not only are these Muscadets with unbelievable texture and definition of origin, they will also age wonderfully.

Gneiss (pronounced ga-ness) is metamorphic rock that may have come from granite and is characterized by alternating layers of light and dark bands. It is a warmer, harder soil, or should we say rock-type and it is amazing that a vine could even penetrate it! This wine reflects where it is grown as there are serious gunflint and stony aromas which remind one of a quarry right after it has rained. Combining ripe lemon with these notes adds for complexity. In the mouth, it is intense and gains laser-like persistence and herbs and spice which carry over into the citrusy and thrusting finish. This wine is the mussel wine of the three, but will also go with numerous shellfish preparations, though avoid the spice.



2010 DOMAINE DE L'ECU MUSCADET
"EXPRESSION DE GRANITE"
$19.99 BTL./$239.88 CASE

If Guy Bossard were in a more famous region like Burgundy or Bordeaux, he would undoubtedly produce white wines that would easily fetch a price that is 10 times the price of these wines. However, he is located in the humble region of Muscadet and what he has done with these wines is nothing less than stellar. The Expression de Granite is cerebral and complex beyond belief for a wine that is $20!

Grown on granitic soils that have more in common with the Côte Blonde section in Côte-Rôtie, this simply put is mind-blowing Muscadet that is one of the finest wines in all of France! Minerally aromas play off of chamomile, classic Muscadet peatiness, lemongrass and honey. Palate-staining and at the same time, brilliantly pure and finesseful. Lots of spine and focus throughout which heads into a glorious finish that is packed with verve, lace and subliminal messages that say that this is virtuoso stuff that you MUST experience with oysters!



2010 DOMAINE DE L'ECU MUSCADET
"EXPRESSION D'ORTHOGNEISS"
$19.99 BTL./$239.88 CASE

Like gneiss, orthogneiss is a product of decomposed quartz. One can almost look at gneiss being the parent soil to orthogneiss with the one major difference being that orthogneiss is a cooler yet thicker soil which brings a more relaxed and rounder style to the finished wine.

This is Muscadet with diamonds and pearls. Billowy notes of yellow apple and Meyer lemon offer the perfect pillow for this powerful terroir to present itself and does it ever. We called this wine a "stealth cobra" because of the fact that it puffed itself up, filling our glassed with drops of round sun-kissed yellow fruit that teeters on tropical and strikes back on the finish with precision-like minerality and insanely defined texture. This impressive effort is a hedonistic exercise in terroir and easily compliments the most decadent preparation of Dover sole in beurre blanc.





Pages