ComplemenTerre ‘Le Breil’ Blanc NV (2020)
Location: France, Loire, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine
Winemaker: Manu Landron & Marion Pescheux
Grapes: Melon de Bourgogne
Soil: Orthogneiss, quartz
Winemaking: They are certified organic and deeply committed to biodynamic farming, as it is almost exclusively what they learned. Orthogeiss, amphibolite, and gneiss soils are the building blocks for their wines, and in the cellar traditional underground concrete tanks are used for debourbage (settling) before racking into smaller concrete vats for fermentation and elevage. All of the wines are allowed to go through malolactic fermentation, and minimal, if any sulfur is added.
From the Importer Selection Massale: ‘Le Breil’ comes from a prestigious parcel of some of their oldest vines. Arguably the top wine made on the estate.
After leaving France and working on vineyards in both Chile and New Zealand, as well as a couple stints closer to home in Montlouis, Manu and Marion returned to the family estate. However, instead of simply working with his father, Jo Landron — one of the top producers in Muscadet — and slowly taking the reigns, he and his wife, Marion Pescheux decided to strike out on their own in 2013. So, with the help of Jo, they pieced together 7.5ha of vines (including some top parcels in the AOC) and put what they had learned working for the likes of Louis Antoine-Luyt, Lise and Bertrand Jousset, and Xavier Weisskopf of Le Rocher des Violettes.
From us at M&L: An excellent reminder that even in a region like Muscadet, with its single grape and vinification/aging standards - not to mention its monolithic image in the wine world - there are folks making singular, delicious wines that shatter preconceptions while also feeling archetypal.
Manu Landron and Marion Pescheux are thoughtfully producing some of the most exciting Muscadet around. Although Manu is the son of iconic master Jo Landron, he and Marion decided early on to forge their own path outside of the legendary domaine. They secured about 7 hectares of excellent sites over the region’s famous granite, gneiss, orthogneiss, and Amphibolite terroirs, as well as some sandy soils (these sandy, loamy sites make for some uncannily ripe and luxurious expressions).
The couple vinify each plot separately and the same way so that the true nature of each is on display: large concrete tanks for settling, then smaller tanks for fermenting and elevage.
The lineup is a map, a spectrum, that features distinct wines that still feel connected. From spritely to wooly to stoney these are terrific whites that are as vivid as they are versatile.