What’s pressoir drinking - domaine de la parentiere muscadet sevre et maine 2020
Edouard Bourgeois
June 21, 2024
Whenever I go back to my hometown, Troyes, I make sure to stop by one of the first natural wine bars in France: Aux Crieurs de Vins. This wine bar/retail was opened in 1998 and since day one, the team who runs it has been focusing on offering their patrons organic wines made with minimum SO2. Unfortunately, I was still too young to care much about this place back when I was living in the area. At the time, I was more occupied by my skateboard and cheap beers… If only I had known (and until recently!) you could just pop by and buy Overnoy for a couple dozen of euros…
I spent a few nights in Troyes last week and bought a mixed pack of bottles from producers I never heard of. I wanted to highlight one of them: Domaine de la Parentière, Muscadet Sevre et Maine 2020.
no tablecloth, no problem
To be clear, this bottle didn’t change my life but it did comfort me with the feeling that one doesn’t have to spend 3 digits on a bottle to get a really pleasurable drinking experience. A little precision here, and a great little insider’s tip if you visit Troyes. While Aux Crieurs de Vins still runs their original spot in town, they opened another location more recently in the Marché aux Halles. Their wine selection at the second location is not as large as the wine bar, but you’ll surely find some gems. My tradition is to go to Les Halles with my family and order a few dozens oysters from “Chez Pascal”, ideally located right in front of the wine shop, and order a cool bottle of wine.
No 2 oysters - Fines de Claires
I had never heard of this producer, Domaine de la Parentière, but apparently they have been organic for 40 years and they work in polyculture, farming onions, potatoes and cereal along with their vines.
As far as the wines made there, seven cuvées are produced by the domaine, mostly whites of course, being in the Pays Nantais of the Loire Valley, where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean. The grape variety is the melon de Bourgogne, now renamed “Melon B” on the back labels after some grumpy Burgundians decided that the precious word “Bourgogne” should be their monopole to use…
Anyway, this delicious Muscadet offered everything I love from the appellation: balance, saline minerality, and texture.
Chez Pascal (who can be seen in back…)
While the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation allows harvest by machine, Domaine de la Parentière picks by hand and the fermentation is spontaneous thanks to indigenous yeasts, naturally present in the environment of the vineyard and the winery. The traditional method of “élevage sur Lie” consists of aging the wine on its own lees which the domaine conducts for 8 to 10 months, and even 25 months for their special cuvée, which I am going to hunt down! The law indicates that in order to write “sur lie” on the label, this élevage needs to be at least 6 months. I was surprised not seeing that mentioned on the bottle I drank. These lees add texture and depth to the wine which is essential to balance the natural acidity. This specific aging method also allows for CO2, a byproduct of the alcoholic fermentation, to remain in the barrel. Producers intentionally bottle their wine with some of that CO2 remaining, which allows the use of less, if any, SO2 at bottling. This very delicate effervescence is a signature of Muscadet sur Lie and quickly dissipates after the bottle is opened.
Oh, and I never mentioned the price of the bottle. I paid 11 euros at “Aux Crieurs de Vins” and you can buy it at the domaine directly for 8,70 euros…
simplicity
