2022 Domaine de la Pépière 'Clisson' Muscadet Sèvre et Maine

About the Wine

Beginning in 2005, Marc Ollivier at Pépière produced this beautiful cuvée from a small parcel of 50 to 100 year-old vines within the Pépière vineyard. Originally called "Granite de Clisson" after the unique bedrock in the vineyard, Marc changed the name to "Clisson" to agree with the new INAO Cru Communal classification.

The granite is covered with gravel and clay with large stones, ensuring good drainage and deep penetration by the roots into the fissures in the bedrock, bringing the mineral elements indispensable to this wine.

Not produced in 2021 due to frost, the 2022 spent 2 years on the lees before bottling and offers a ripe, elegant, full-bodied style that will drink beautifully young and will develop further over 15 to 20 years.

"Concerning the Clisson 2022, it was an early harvest, the grapes were picked on September 5 and 6. The harvest was beautiful, with perfect ripeness. Often on early vintages we can have high sugar concentrations because the maturity dynamics are faster. On the 2022 vintage we have a concentration that is not very high for an early vintage with a perfect alcohol content of around 12.5% (on warm vintages we sometimes have 13 or 13.5% alcohol).

Concerning the tasting we have slightly grilled, toasted notes on the nose, with aromas of ripe fruits, citrus fruits, honey and quince. The palate is rich (but not hot), a dense and well-structured ripe fruit mixture of white peach and quince. The palate is long and the finish ends with a very small bitter note (a note very typical of the 2022 vintage)."

Remi Branger, Winemaker

About Domaine de la Pépière

Domaine de la Pépière in Maisdon sur Sèvre in the Muscadet, is one of the greatest estates of the Loire Valley. The reputation comes from the vibrancy and density of the wines which reflect their terroir, mostly decomposed Granite, Gabbro and Gniess.

There are 28 hectares of vines; about 8 hectares lie on the granite of Clisson in the more southerly part of the appellation, another 12 hectares further north, on the granite of Château Thébaud; both of which contain veins of metamorphic gneiss with amphibolite stones. 

Domaine de la Pépière is a standout in the region for several reasons. Access to old vines - the vines are old, some over 70 years and all are planted 'selection massale'. Selection massale is an ancient and laborious method of replanting by taking the cuttings from the old and best vines. 

It takes about four years to produce a quarter of the number of vines of the initial cuttings. As artisans they prefer selection massale because it provides vine diversity, resulting in complex wines. 

Vines are farmed organically, harvest is by hand, even the basic Muscadet Sur Lie is aged on lees until the following spring, and they use only indigenous yeasts – all such practices are practically non-existant in the Muscadet. 

Snapshot

Region: Loire Valley

Country: France

Vintage: 2022

Size: 750ml

ABV: 12.5%

Closure: Cork under seal

Grape: Melon de Bourgogne