2020 Louis Metaireau Grand Mouton One Muscadet Sevre-et-Maine

Louis Métaireau made Muscadet worth taking seriously again. Growers in the Loire had been leaving white wine on its lees for centuries, mostly by habit and mostly for themselves. What Métaireau and his group of Vignerons d'Art did in the mid-20th century was turn that practice into a quality standard, refine it, and sell it, which dragged the appellation out of cheap bulk-wine territory and laid the groundwork for the legal Sur Lie designation printed on this label.

Cuvée One is the top of the range, made from a single parcel planted in 1937, and the family only produces it in great vintages. Laure and Julien Rossignol, both trained agronomic engineers, bought the estate in 2018 and moved it to organic farming.

The vineyard is nearly 23 hectares in one unbroken block, sitting on the strip of land between the Sèvre and the Maine rivers, on gneiss, granite, and amphibolite. Every grape is picked by hand. In a region where 98 percent of the harvest is done by machine, that is close to unheard of. Each parcel ferments separately on native yeasts, rests on its lees through winter, and gets bottled without racking, which leaves a trace of carbon dioxide in the wine.

Expect white flowers, ripe pear, honey, and verbena, then salt and iodine as it opens, over a structured, tense palate with bright acidity and a fresh, delicate finish.