The Ocean - Distilled.
2004 Michel Brégeon
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine "Gorges"
Powerful, Ageworthy Muscadet (Cellarable for 20 Years)
Sixty-four months on the lees, seven years post-vintage and only now does the story begin.
Michel Brégeon's 2004 "Gorges" promises to be one of the great bottles of Muscadet - in a way it's that simple.
Despite the increasing interest in these wines, Muscadet remains one of those truly implausible deals.
At $25, this is a bottle that deserves to be considered by just about everyone. Especially in this maniacal NYC heat, there are few bottles of wine that speak of the ocean so forcefully, few wines are so relentlessly refreshing.
Yet this is much more than a summer quaffer - this is a dense Muscadet with the stuffing to power on in the cellar for multiple decades. (64 months on the lees has its advantages.)
If Brégeon remains relatively under-the-radar, those who are really tuned in to the wines of the Loire consider this to be one of the best wines coming out of the Muscadet region.
It's a wine that deserves to cellared right next to Pépière's Clos des Briords.
This wine is part of a growing group of Muscadets from astute, hard-working producers dedicated to illuminating the varied terroir of Muscadet and to producing wines with bolstered complexity, power and longevity. These producers have isolated four distinct "Crus" of Muscadet - each with its own specific soil type - that they're petitioning the European Union to classify as unique ACs.
These are Muscadets of power, detail and acidic thrust. They deliver Muscadet's hallmark oyster shell minerality with a textured palate presense. This is no mere "sea breeze minerality." It's a thrilling sense of the ocean in a pure and distilled form, complete with a strong impression of ground oyster shells. Aromatically, these are explosive wines with all that oceanic minerality washing in tides of additional notes of flowers and spice.
Yes, this a larger-scaled Muscadet, but it isn't simply a showy tale of a winemaker trying to pack extra weight onto the modest frame of Muscadet; instead, it speaks directly to the terroir Brégeon is working with.
Melon de Bourgogne, the grape of Muscadet, has an amazing knack for revealing the subtleties of terroir. Gorges' hard, dark volcanic soil has a reputation for producing the longest lived and most powerful Muscadets, and Brégeon's Muscadet Gorges certainly dramatizes this quality.
The result is a wine that struts a richness, firmness and muscularity reminiscent of 1er Cru Chablis. It also shows subtle melon fruit on the palate with spices and tangy acidity.
When it comes to ageworthy white wine, Muscadets of this caliber present some of the best values in the wine world. While today's bottle isn't exactly cheap by Muscadet standards, when you consider the complexity and aging potential this has - and the fact that this is being released nearly SEVEN years after the vintage - it remains a silly value. This should welcome its 20th birthday with snap and vigor.
To order, please email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyers
Crush Wine & Spirits
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine "Gorges"
Special Email Bottle Price: $27.95
No compare at pricing available
Special Email 6-Pack Price: $151.38 ($25.23 / btl)
Wine arrives mid-August!
NET | No further discount