Domaine de la Pepiere Clos des Briords Muscadet Sevre-et-Maine Sur Lie Cuvee Vieille Vignes

100% Melon de Bourgogne. Briords is a lieu-dit in which Marc has long held 3 hectares of massale vines planted from 1930 to 1950. These are the oldest vines of the estate, planted on soils of granite de Thébaud, which differs from granite de Clisson in containing more feldspar and clay--it is cooler, slower ripening, holds and drains water well, supplies more nutrients and is looser (so roots can go deep to the hard granite mother rock). The farming is organic and harvest  and all work by hand. Like for the rest of the Pepière wines, the fruit is direct-pressed and the juice settled naturally for 12 hours. It is then fermented in stainless steel tanks with natural yeasts; the wine is aged on its lees in large, underground vats--8 to 9 months in the case of Briords--until bottling without fining or filtering. Briords is generally the most structured and powerful of Pepière's wines.