Having roast chicken with a rosemary/juniper berry/garlic paste/marinade tonight for din-din, accompanied by a caesar salad and some fresh bread, so I decided to go for some Muscadet to pair up with the dish (plus some pre-dinner cheese & crackers). First up, the:
2006 Pepiere Muscadet Clos des Briords. Light yellow-gold in the glass, with a focused and mineral-laden nose.
On the palate, bone-dry, with significant acidity. Nice finish with crisp apples, but I will concede that the acidity is pronounced enough that it would probably scare some tasters off. Really refreshing, though, and we’ll see how it comes around over the next couple hours.
Next up, the 2007 Pepiere Muscadet Granite du Clisson. Similar in color to the Briords, with a nose that speaks of Chablis, almost that hint of brininess that reminds one of the shore and oysters (and with both of these wines, it’s easy to see why oysters are such a classic pairing for Muscadet). This nose is more accessible, and shows more crisp apples/fruit than the Briords.
Gorgeous on the palate - well-rounded, dry and medium-bodied, acidity clearly there but not as prominent right now as the Briords.
Both of these wines are showing very young out of the magnum format, but right now I have a distinct early preference for this wine.
If not for a nuisance chest cold, I’d be on my way down now. Absolutely love that 07 Clisson.
RT
Yeah, that Clisson is an attractive wine - one of the best Muscadet I’ve ever tried (although still a step behind the 2005 Trois in my mind).
The acidity on the '06 Briords also moderated with time/air, and these wines are probably closer in quality than my initial note suggests. The Briords strikes me as a wine with a lot of time in front of it. I may just put a couple mags of this in a corner and try to forget about it for a decade or so.