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2019 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Clisson “La Molette”
Domaine Michel Brégeon
This is off-the-charts Muscadet.
Evocative: a rarely used tasting note, maybe, but a fitting one for this wine. Shared with colleagues a few days ago, the Clisson’s expressive wet-stone and saline qualities summoned memories of the seaside and lavish oyster-accompanied aperitifs, while its long palate conjured a comparison to never-ending meals (“because it evolves like a good feast”). For my part, I was brought back to a particularly refreshing moment on vacation in Yosemite last month, when I plunged my feet into the icy-cold waters of the Merced River. A subtly floral nose and textured mouthfeel seal the deal. This is off-the-charts Muscadet.
—Emily Spillmann
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2019 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Melon de Bourgogne |
Appellation: | Muscadet Sèvre et Maine |
Country: | France |
Region: | Loire |
Producer: | André-Michel Brégeon |
Winemaker: | Fred Lailler |
Vineyard: | 50 years average, 7.8 ha total |
Soil: | Granite |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 12% |
More from this Producer or Region

2022 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Réserve”
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When you smell it, keep in mind that no other wine, besides a Melon de Bourgogne grown in the gabbro soil of Gorges, could possibly smell like this one does.

2023 Muscadet “Le Clos de la Butte”
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This exquisite Muscadet is a perfect reflection of where it originates, as if it’s been sculpted by winds off the ocean and infused with hints of sea salt in the air.

2022 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie
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It fills the mouth with suspicions of honeysuckle and pulpy stone fruits, all while maintaining classic notes of iodine and sea breeze that make this the vinous equivalent of tidepooling.

2023 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie
France | Loire
It fills the mouth with suspicions of honeysuckle and pulpy stone fruits, all while maintaining classic notes of iodine and sea breeze that make this the vinous equivalent of tidepooling.

2021 Vin de France Blanche
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This skin-contact wine is redolent of blood orange and hyssop—a perfect apéritif for olives and anchovies.

2021 Chinon “La Croix Boissée”
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This is the grandest bottling of Cabernet Franc from one of Chinon’s most outstanding producers.

2018 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Gorges”
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Gorges boasts an incredible texture and tension imparted by decomposed, blue-green igneous rock, seventy-year-old vines, and years-long aging on the lees.

2020 Vin de France Blanche
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This lithe and expressive “orange” wine is an ideal palate-opener with a dry, cleansing finish and a fresh, cooling effect like coastal sage and seaspray.

2023 Gros-Plant du Pays Nantais
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This racy wine is a perfect match for all types of crustaceans as well all by itself on a sunny afternoon.

2023 Saumur Champigny “Cuvée Domaine”
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March Club Rouge ~ The 2023 vintage has its trademark elegance, with notes of blackberries, forest, and graphite.
About The Producer
André-Michel Brégeon
Michel Brégeon is part renegade, part crusader, and full-blown terroirist, ardently defending the Muscadet-Sèvre-et-Maine terroir. Thanks to his deep understanding of the land, he plays the game much differently than the region’s caves cooperatives and negociants, who produce en masse and lose the subtlety of the appellation. He worked for his family’s domaine before setting out on his own in 1975. When his father retired in 1989, he gave his remaining vineyard land to Michel. Today, Michel farms seven hectares of vineyards in clay, silica, and gabbro soils. Gabbro is old, blue-green, volcanic rock, rarely found in vineyard land. Formed by magma eruptions under the ocean floor, it imparts intense complexity to Michel’s wines.
About The Region
Loire
The defining feature of the Loire Valley, not surprisingly, is the Loire River. As the longest river in France, spanning more than 600 miles, this river connects seemingly disparate wine regions. Why else would Sancerre, with its Kimmeridgian limestone terroir be connected to Muscadet, an appellation that is 250 miles away?
Secondary in relevance to the historical, climatic, environmental, and cultural importance of the river are the wines and châteaux of the Jardin de la France. The kings and nobility of France built many hundreds of châteaux in the Loire but wine preceded the arrival of the noblesse and has since out-lived them as well.
Diversity abounds in the Loire. The aforementioned Kimmderidgian limestone of Sancerre is also found in Chablis. Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saumur boast the presence of tuffeau, a type of limestone unique to the Loire that has a yellowish tinge and a chalky texture. Savennières has schist, while Muscadet has volcanic, granite, and serpentinite based soils. In addition to geologic diversity, many, grape varieties are grown there too: Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Melon de Bourgogne are most prevalent, but (to name a few) Pinot Gris, Grolleau, Pinot Noir, Pineau d’Aunis, and Folle Blanche are also planted. These myriad of viticultural influences leads to the high quality production of every type of wine: red, white, rosé, sparkling, and dessert.
Like the Rhône and Provence, some of Kermit’s first imports came from the Loire, most notably the wines of Charles Joguet and Château d’Epiré—two producers who are featured in Kermit’s book Adventures on the Wine Route and with whom we still work today.
More from Loire or France
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2023 Muscadet “Le Clos de la Butte”
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2020 Vin de France Rouge Cabernet Franc “Huguette”
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2023 Reuilly Pinot Gris Rosé
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2023 Val de Loire Rouge Grolleau
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2020 Saumur Blanc “L’Échelier”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2023 Jasnières
Pascal Janvier France | Loire
2019 Chinon “Clos du Chêne Vert”
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2021 Chinon
Bernard Baudry France | Loire
2023 Vouvray “Pierres Rousses”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2022 Quincy “Vieilles Vignes”
Domaine Trotereau France | Loire
2023 Anjou Rouge “Clos de la Cerisaie”
Château d'Epiré France | Loire
2023 Muscadet “Le Clos de la Butte”
Eric Chevalier France | Loire
2020 Vin de France Rouge Cabernet Franc “Huguette”
Grange Saint Sauveur France | Loire
2015 Chinon “Les Petites Roches” MAGNUM
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2023 Reuilly Pinot Gris Rosé
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Kermit once said...

Kermit once said...
I want you to realize once and for all: Even the winemaker does not know what aging is going to do to a new vintage; Robert Parker does not know; I do not know. We all make educated (hopefully) guesses about what the future will bring, but guesses they are. And one of the pleasures of a wine cellar is the opportunity it provides for you to witness the evolution of your various selections. Living wines have ups and downs just as people do, periods of glory and dog days, too. If wine did not remind me of real life, I would not care about it so much.
Inspiring Thirst, page 171