Jean Aubron 'Cuvée Elégance' Muscadet 2022 (750 ml)

Lovely, flowery and briny wine, a true showcase of its terroir. Lemon, lime, white flowers and salty notes of the sea vie for your attention, with an intense mineral mouthfeel and striking acidity that balances everything on the palate. 

It's an act of bravery to farm organically this close to the Atlantic Ocean where humidity makes mildew a constant threat. Jean Pascal Aubron is willing to take the chance and do the work to make exceptional Muscadet, picked perfectly ripe at 12% alcohol, fermented bone dry, and then given an enriching stay "sur lie" for 10 months. You'll love the snappy green fruit (apple, lime, peach), loads of energy, a touch of leesy richness, and a driving, crisp, salty finish with a sprinkling of lime zest for extra interest.  Sure, it's a terrific match for oysters or clams, but there's enough texture and balance here to make for an excellent, refreshing, party white as well.

At Jean Aubron, a domaine that resides outside of Nantes, near the Atlantic Coast, Jean-Pascal Aubron–a fourth generation vigneron–strives to make bone-dry Muscadet and other wines. And though the Muscadet-Sevre et Maine appellation allows for all Muscadet Sur Lie wines to contain 3 grams of residual sugar, and for all others to contain 5 grams, Jean-Pascal first and foremost pushes his fermentations to the end, to yield wines with zero residual sugar that are dry and crisp with high acidity, and suitable for aging. Coming from a family that has worked to maintain and grow its presence in Loire, Jean-Pascal’s great grandfather worked as a vigneron in 1875, when the family’s holdings were at 11ha. Since 1983, Pascal has brought the domaine's holdings up to 84 ha., including 35 ha. of the acclaimed Clos de l'Audigere, which sits on gabbro soil, a form of ancient volcanic rock that allows the vines to dig deep, picking up nutritional components along the way. By purchasing only smaller vineyards that are directly connected to his current vineyards, Pascal could keep the fruit as close to the winery as possible, to maintain its freshness, by avoiding sun contact and bruising, and to keep the grapes cool so that the wine is at its clearest after its been racked from its lees. To maintain this practice, no vineyard is located more than 15km from the winery. 

In 2000, Pascal began employing sustainable practices in the vineyard, practicing lutte raisonnée and avoiding chemical usage. Then two years later, Pascal began letting cover-crop grass grow between his rows to help fight mildew, which is a persistent issue, due to their proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. Currently, Pascal is experimenting with organic farming, by working with a 5ha parcel, from the 35ha of Grand Fief de l'Audigere. Started three years ago, it's a project that's still in its infancy because two years ago, there was a mildew problem, created by the vineyard’s proximity to the Atlantic, and so Pascal chose to treat and save the crop, rather than lose his 5ha of fruit.

He starts the fermentation in stainless steel, then transfers the wines to glass-lined underground tanks to let them sit on their lees until he feels they’re ready, creating Muscadets that are aromatically expressive, with striking acidity, minerality and salinity but also with stunning purity of fruit.  Overall, he lightly fines and filters his still bottlings to maintain the essence of his terroir, and barely sulfurs at bottling, just enough to keep the wine stable.  There is no fining, filtering or sulfuring of the pet'nat and skin-contact cuvees.

He is avowedly non-interventionist, working hard to maintain the health of his soils.  And even though he is decidedly traditional, he is not afraid to try new things.  So he jumped at the chance to try (and succeed at) making a pet'nat Muscadet as well as a skin-contact Muscadet.