Muscadet and Proposed Legislation

So, this is about a wine I recently got really excited about. I drank the wine last night, so please understand that I will do my best to describe it based on my recollection. The wine's aromas and flavors are fairly fresh in my mind because I was so excited about it. This is not the best or most complex wine, but I put it right at the top of very good, bordering on outstanding, and I think it's relevant that I review it here now. The reason is that this is another wine that is not available in Maine. I'm sure you might be asking yourself why I am bothering to review another wine that's tough to get your hands on. If you've read my other entries, you might now be worried about another tiresome, inappropriate political rant. Well, I do have political motives, but I'll try to be fair to those involved and not throw around accusations that are not true this time. I also really want to tell you about this wine, which is the best Muscadet I've ever had. Muscadet is a wine from near the mouth of the Loire river in France. The grape variety is called Melon de Bourgogne. These wines are generally fresh and light, with mineral driven flavors and something reminiscent of sea air. If you open up whatever wine resource you might have, you'll probably see these talked about as wines that should be drunk as young as possible; certainly nothing to throw in your cellar and age. Relatively recently in the long history of this wine region, a small number of growers have realized that if they drastically reduce what are normally very high yields and set out to make serious, rather than rather neutral quaffing, wine, they end up with something that is, indeed ageworthy and complex. I have been intrigued for some time as I have read about these wines but not, until last night, had the opportunity to try one. What's neat is that this wine has already been aged, though I suspect it will continue to improve for the next 5 years or so. The vintage of this wine, in case you couldn't make it out in the picture, is 1997. It is rare to find a well aged wine at retail in general, and almost unheard of to get a wine over 12 years old for under $20. That's what my New Hampshire resident friends (not me, of course; I live in Maine) were able to do, though, by mail ordering this wine. Okay, with tax and shipping it probably came to more like $25 a bottle, but I still consider that one of the best values I've seen for wine.

Before I get into a tasting note, I will say that my reason for writing, besides my excitement over the wine itself, is that there is a bill in the House of Representatives right now, H.R. 5034, that is going to make it very easy for states to pass laws that unconstitutionally prohibit interstate commerce, namely the interstate sales of wine. This bill would make it very difficult for a citizen to challenge the constitutionality of such laws, which is the main way they have been challenged in places like Massachusetts. I will try not to get too political here, but in short, I am for the Constitution and its enforcement, and I am for the right to buy wines not represented by wholesalers in Maine. I cannot buy from retailers in other states, but I now can buy from small producers who do not have representation in our market. I love having this right and applaud the lawmakers involved in recently granting it to citizens of Maine. Allowing states to stop such practices (many will due to the power of liquor wholesale lobbies in all states and on a national level) by writing laws that violate the Constitution would be a great injustice. It could also put a lot of small, quality minded producers whose only way of staying afloat is to sell directly to their small, dedicated customer base throughout the country. I implore anyone who shares my views in this matter to write their House representative and urge that person to vote against this bill. Here are a couple of websites where you can find out a bit more:
Decanter article
Facebook page
actual bill text
Wilson Act (bill would change)
If you do some searching you'll find much more.

So, if you're still with me and you haven't forgotten that this is a wine blog rather than a political one, here's my take on the wine:

1997 Pierre Luneau-Papin Muscadet Sevre & Maine Sur Lie Cuvee Medaillee (not available in Maine, was about $19)

At first, this wine smelled a bit funky. It had a dusty, musty aroma (not cork taint) masking some of the orange and peach that was still coming through. After a few minutes, the mustiness had blown off, revealing layered aromas of stony minerality, orange, peach, and hints of a saline quality and petroleum jelly (sounds weird, but it was interesting and smelled very good). On the palate, this wine was delicious. It was very similar to the nose. It had great finesse and freshness, and that mustiness that blew off was subtly showing itself as a sort of dusty, earthy flavor that was mingling beautifully with the core of fresh fruits. If I hadn't known better, I would assume this was a much younger wine, maybe 4-5 years from vintage. I only might think it was even that old because of the petrol element, but really some wines will show that in their youth, and the freshness of the fruit (fruit elements tend to start tasting dried out or stewed as wines age) would have me thinking this had been bottled within the past year or two. At close to 13 years, I've rarely experienced a white wine with this kind of freshness of fruit, and I've only seen it before in Riesling. Even the Chenin Blancs I've had with similar age have seemed more mature than this wine did (not in a bad way, but it was evident). Considering that those are some of the longest lived dry whites, and Muscadet is generally seen as one of the shortest lived, this is really interesting. It didn't quite have the complexity or progression of flavor for me to call it outstanding, but it is as high as very good goes for me. 89+ points.

If you're sick of reading about wines that aren't available here, or if you don't care and think it's still interesting, let me know by leaving comments. If you're in the former category, send me an email (missatiejacket@yahoo.com) and I will come to your place and open something not locally available that I think will show you why I do care so much about such wines. I will review a wine that is available in this area soon. I promise.