Domaine de la Louvetrie (Landron & Fils) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie Le Fief du Breil

Still drinking beautifully, with ample ripe fruit and minerality. Color golden but no oxidation. just wonderful last night with a group of friends. Nice 20 year.old muscadet from magnum.

Spectacular! Very light color, showing no sign of age. Citrus predominates initially but after it warmed up a bit, the wonderful minerality came to the fore. Nice acidity. Very nicely balanced. Drinking beautifully but clearly has good life ahead of it.

A private lunch (Restaurant l'Arpège ***, Paris, France) : Lovely colour, intense but light for age; ever so slight initial oxidative note on the nose blows off; hint of honey; lovely ripe citrus fruit, very characteristic minerality and salinity, delicious freshness, strikes the magical balance between lightness and intensity as only aged Muscadet can. And Aligoté perhaps.

Wow! As alive as the day it was bottled. Honeyed nose with hints of lemon, a slight nutty quality, incredibly fresh and herbal. Light bodied but rich, tangy mid-palate. Loads of acidity---truly exceptional. I can't say enough great things about this Muscadet TEN YEARS after its debut. Drink now or experiment with longer...

$18 retail, before discount. Light nose of rainwater and citrus. On the palate, rainwater / minerals and citrus. Fantastic, light weight texture / mouthfeel. Well-balanced. Mind-blowing Muscadet.

Opened following the 2004 L'Ecu Muscadet Expression de Granite (see TN), this wine from Landron runs circles around the L'Ecu, IMO. The 2002 Fief du Breil has to be one of the best two or three Muscadets I've ever had. Expressive nose of mouthwatering lemon. On the palate, there's more chiseled, pefectly ripe lemon, as well as fine minerality. Terrific balance. Again, this is fantastic Muscadet and a steal at around $18 retail, before discount.

How Wines Age - Loire, Burgundy, Rhone : $13.86 retail, after discount. This time I opened the '02 side by side with the 1993 vintage of the same wine (see TN). The 2002 Louvetrie FdB is one of the best Muscadets I've ever had. After drinking over a case of Landron's "regular" 2002 Muscadet, I can say that their Feif du Breil bottling from the same vintage, is a step up in power and intensity. Well balanced. Clean and fresh …

$14.39 retail, after discount. No formal note. This was an excellent Muscadet, with notably pure fruit, by Muscadet standards, and it was interesting to try it next to the '02 Ceps Centenaires bottling from Chateau Chasseloir. Louvetrie's Fief du Breil had more fruit and came across as fresher - perhaps even younger than the Chasseloir wine (see TNs), which I also find terrific, though it is more minerally and firmer than this Louvetrie wine. Note: I recently had the '93 …