Louise Chereau Vices & Vertus Katharos Muscadet 2019
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Domaine Chéreau Carré occupies one of the most privileged positions in the Loire-Atlantique department of France in the heart of the Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine appellation, directly at the confluence of the two rivers. This family-owned winery has been an innovator since the 1960s by focussing on the qualitative advancement of the Sèvre-et-Maine appellation through their exploration of their numerous single vineyards. Chéreau Carré has assembled some of the most prized old vineyards in the region, where they focus on the development of their Crus Communaux wines.
The family winery is run by the father and daughter team of Bernard Chéreau, the second generation, and Louise Chéreau, the third. Their family’s origins reach back to the 11th century in the region and the founder of the winery, Bernard Chéreau senior, was the first to age Muscadet wines on lees, a method which became an integral part of the appellation in 1977. Both father and son pioneered bottle-aged Muscadet meant to improve with time in the cellar and they were the first in the region to place an emphasis on this quality.
As the voice of the new generation at the winery,
Louise Chéreau is shaking things up by creating fresh, new expressions of traditional grapes and terroirs with her Vices & Vertus project.
In this spirit, she created a bottle-fermented sparkling wine called Orgueil, made with melon de bourgogne, the traditional grape of Muscadet. The fruit comes from 40-year-old vines at the winery’s Chasseloir estate, a prime location on schist soils, directly on the Maine river. This shows off a different side of muscadet and hints at the immense potential of this region for sparkling wines.
Also under her Vices & Vertus project is Katharos, a natural wine with zero added sulfur dioxide. By using carefully hand-selected grapes from their Chasseloir estate on schist soils, she crafts this delicate and elegant wine from 100% melon de bourgogne with the goal of creating the most transparent expression of grape and place. Katharos means “purity” in ancient Greek and the aim of this cuvée is to reveal the authentic aromas of the melon de bourgogne variety without the addition of any sulfur during vinification, which allows the aromatics to shine through.
In yet another inspiration, Louise and Bernard were also the first property to put Muscadet in kegs; P’tit Loup is made from 40-year-old vines at the Chasseloir estate and bottled with less lees aging, intended to be light and crushable.
With deep roots and a bright future, Chéreau Carré continues to lead the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation into the next century.
Made famous in Muscadet, a gently rolling, Atlantic-dominated countryside on the eastern edge of the Loire, Melon de Bourgogne is actually the most planted grape variety in the Loire Valley. But the best comes from Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, a subzone of Pays Nantais. Somm Secret—The wine called Muscadet may sound suggestive of “muscat,” but Melon de Bourgogne is not related. Its name also suggests origins in Burgundy, which it has, but was continuously outlawed there, like Gamay, during the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Pays Nantais, Loire’s only region abutting the Atlantic coast, is solely focused on the Melon de Bourgogne grape in its handful of subzones: Muscadet-Sèvre et Maine, Muscadet-Coteaux de la Loire and Muscadet-Côtes de Grandlieu. Muscadet wines are dry, crisp, seaside whites made from Melon de Bourgogne and are ideal for the local seafood-focused cuisine. (They are not related to Muscat.) There is a new shift in the region to make these wines with extended lees contact, creating fleshy and more aromatic versions.