Domaine Bonnet-Huteau ‘Les Bonnets Blancs’
Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine > Pays Nantais > Loire Valley > FR
Melon de Bourgogne, 2022
Muscadet has often been considered cheap, unserious, and insubstantial, but it's been woefully underestimated. We’re here to prove it's one of the great terroir driven wines of the world. Les Bonnets Blancs is a blend of several of Dme. Bonnet-Hubert’s vineyard’s, 100% Melon of course. Vines aged 15 to 30 years grown in shallow soils on mica schists and gneiss, then slow-pressed into glass-lined underground tanks built in 1946. A whole palette of fresh minerals and spiky fruits. This is the first time Bonnet Huteau has been available in Seattle, and you’re at the premiere. Certified organic and biodynamic.
Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine > Pays Nantais > Loire Valley > FR
Melon de Bourgogne, 2022
Muscadet has often been considered cheap, unserious, and insubstantial, but it's been woefully underestimated. We’re here to prove it's one of the great terroir driven wines of the world. Les Bonnets Blancs is a blend of several of Dme. Bonnet-Hubert’s vineyard’s, 100% Melon of course. Vines aged 15 to 30 years grown in shallow soils on mica schists and gneiss, then slow-pressed into glass-lined underground tanks built in 1946. A whole palette of fresh minerals and spiky fruits. This is the first time Bonnet Huteau has been available in Seattle, and you’re at the premiere. Certified organic and biodynamic.
Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine > Pays Nantais > Loire Valley > FR
Melon de Bourgogne, 2022
Muscadet has often been considered cheap, unserious, and insubstantial, but it's been woefully underestimated. We’re here to prove it's one of the great terroir driven wines of the world. Les Bonnets Blancs is a blend of several of Dme. Bonnet-Hubert’s vineyard’s, 100% Melon of course. Vines aged 15 to 30 years grown in shallow soils on mica schists and gneiss, then slow-pressed into glass-lined underground tanks built in 1946. A whole palette of fresh minerals and spiky fruits. This is the first time Bonnet Huteau has been available in Seattle, and you’re at the premiere. Certified organic and biodynamic.
Grape: 100% Melon de Bourgogne
ABV: 12%
The Story: Deeply emblematic of the temperate damp reaches of France’s Atlantic coast, the Pay Nantais, home of Muscadet, is dominated by Melon de Bourgogne. This grape is indigenous to - you guessed it Bourgogne (aka Burgundy), and was brought in the middle ages to the coast by the Dutch who appreciated its distinctively neutral character making the perfect base for fortified wines, great for shipping around the globe. These days, Melon makes Muscadet (note that Muscadet is not the name of the grape, nor the name of the place, but rather the name of the wine - does that make sense?) a light, delicate white wine crisp dry and salty. Named for the Serve and Maine rivers, about 70-80% of the production is labeled Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine and many producers age their wines on the lees, or sur lie to give rounder mouthfeel and yeasty aromas.
The domaine Bonnet Huteau is situated in the center of the Sèvre & Maine appellation, 20km from Nantes and 10km from Clisson—a small attractive city by the river Sèvre Nantaise. The estate has been producing Muscadet for more than 150 years and was previously a Medieval house smack in the center of charming little town - La Chapelle Heulin. Winemakers Jean-Jacques, Rémi Bonnet, and Vincent Pineau work with their four vineyards - Les Gautronnières (green rocks and amphibolite), Les Laures (granite), Les Clos Moulin Chartrie (orthogneiss), and Le Cru Goulaine (mica schist) with the goal of expressing each soil and the minerality it has to offer. The winery and vineyards are certified organic and practicing biodynamic.
Personality: A whole palette of fresh minerals and spiky fruits, definitely has that licking river rock appeal if you’re into that sort of thing.
Harmony: Look to the sea, my friends, sure oysters on the half shell are the classic pick, but what about raw scallops, or albacore tartare.