The simple joys of the Muscadet Sevre-et-Maine

Clocking in at $20 exactly, this wine is worth every penny, and maybe even more. All I have to say about this wine is that it is absolutely fantastic. Of course, with my tastes, it has that hint of eccentricity and one or two unique flavours that make it a rather obscure wine in most North American wine stores, but it can be found for those willing to seek it out.
The wine I'm here to tell you about today is another Loire Valley wine, but from the region just to the west of Tourraine where that Gamay from my last post was from. This wine is from the Nantais and carries the appellation name of Muscadet Sevre-et-Maine. Wines from this area must be made from 100% Melon de Bourgogne grapes and a common trend is for wine makers to employ lees stirring as a technique. This is essentially the process of aging the wine for a period of time of the deposits of dead or residual yeast cells and tends to add an extra layer of complexity to the wine as well as notes of bread and baked goods.
Domaine Pierre de la Grange, also sometimes referred to as Domaine Pierre Luneau-Papin is widely recognized as a wine that provides excellent value for money. It is also on the list of wines imported by Louis/Dressner in the US, an importer who tends to bring over a lot of wines that appeal to my palate.
At 12%abv, it's not a heavily alcoholic wine but makes up it's body with what I feel are the flavours imparted by the lees stirring. It is a pale wine with notes of Baked bread, red apple/orchid fruits, stony and mineral with some white blossoms coming through. This wine kind of made me picture freshly baked apple pie. On the palate, it was pretty much the same as the nose. I felt that the lees added a nice bready complexity to the wine and also added some roundness and richness. I thought there might have been a hint of oak but I might have been confusing that with the yeast flavours. It turns out that there was some old wood aging which explains why it was such a background flavour and so well integrated. The finish was nice and long and I would have happily followed this bottle up with another of the same a few times over. A great wine and especially with summer coming around, a wine worth trying while enjoying the sunshine, the beach and the ocean.
Can't wait for the next bottle!!