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2023 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie
Domaine Michel Brégeon
Sur lie, as mentioned on Brégeon’s appropriately golden label, means Fred Lailler’s crystalline Muscadet keeps contact on a bed of inactive yeast as it matures, undisturbed, in underground cuves. This practice lends a hint of richness in the form of volume and character, plus a subtle ray of warmth, to an otherwise bracingly mineral white. Classic Muscadet aromas endure, especially in a vintage like 2023, but there’s a complexity here that’s uncommon for an appellation known for its simple oyster wines. This one could do much more at table than wash away a few bivalves.
—Jane Augustine
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2023 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Melon de Bourgogne |
Appellation: | Muscadet Sèvre et Maine |
Country: | France |
Region: | Loire |
Producer: | André-Michel Brégeon |
Winemaker: | Fred Lailler |
Vineyard: | 40 years average, 7.8 ha total |
Soil: | Gabbro |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 11% |
More from this Producer or Region

2018 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Gorges”
France | Loire
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.

2022 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.

2020 Vin de France Rosé Grolleau/Cabernet Franc “Les Arceaux”
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Intensely dry and mineral, the structured Les Arceaux is a bottle to pair with a meal rather than to drink as an apéritif.

2023 Chinon “Les Petites Roches” Blanc
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A delightfully lean and bright blanc from Charles Joguet that leaves me yearning to exclaim, “This smells like a green apple picked fresh from a lemon tree!”

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.

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.

2017 Jasnières “Chant de Vigne”
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A single-vineyard bottling whose age lends a soft, drawn butter richness to its bright, tart citrus palate.

2020 Chinon “Les Varennes du Grand Clos”
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With floral aromas and fine-grained tannins, it already showcases its charms.

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.

2021 Vin de France Blanche
France | Loire
This skin-contact wine is redolent of blood orange and hyssop—a perfect apéritif for olives and anchovies.
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
2023 Coteaux du Loir Blanc
Pascal Janvier France | Loire
2018 Saumur Blanc “L’Échelier”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2020 Vin de France Rouge Cabernet Franc “Huguette”
Grange Saint Sauveur France | Loire
2022 Jasnières “Dyane”
Christine de Mianville France | Loire
2019 Bourgueil “Les Perrières”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2023 Chinon Rosé
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2023 Savennières
Château d’Epiré France | Loire
2021 Vin de France Blanche
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2021 Vin de France Rosé Grolleau/Cabernet Franc “Les Arceaux”
Grange Saint-Sauveur France | Loire
2015 Vouvray “La Moelleuse”
Champalou France | Loire
2023 Bourgueil “Trinch!”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2023 Reuilly “Les Pierres Plates”
Domaine de Reuilly France | Loire
2023 Coteaux du Loir Blanc
Pascal Janvier France | Loire
2018 Saumur Blanc “L’Échelier”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2020 Vin de France Rouge Cabernet Franc “Huguette”
Grange Saint Sauveur France | Loire
2022 Jasnières “Dyane”
Christine de Mianville France | Loire
2019 Bourgueil “Les Perrières”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2023 Chinon Rosé
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2023 Savennières
Château d’Epiré France | Loire
2021 Vin de France Blanche
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2021 Vin de France Rosé Grolleau/Cabernet Franc “Les Arceaux”
Grange Saint-Sauveur France | Loire
2015 Vouvray “La Moelleuse”
Champalou France | Loire
2023 Bourgueil “Trinch!”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2023 Reuilly “Les Pierres Plates”
Domaine de Reuilly France | Loire
Kermit once said...

Kermit once said...
Great winemakers, great terroirs, there is never any hurry. And I no longer buy into this idea of “peak” maturity. Great winemakers, great terroirs, their wines offer different pleasures at different ages.
Inspiring Thirst, page 312