DOMAINE HAUTE-FEVRIE, Muscadet

Located 18 km south-east of Nantes in Muscadet’s Sèvre et Maine heartland, this estate of 26 hectares lies on a combination of gneiss, orthogneiss and amphibolite sub-soils, the terroirs which, with their overlays of siliceous clay and gravel, give the classic racy purity of these long underrated white wines. The domaine is impeccably run by Sébastien Branger, the fourth generation of his family to oversee these rolling slopes overlooking the River Sèvre. Certified under the Terra Vitis regime for sustainable viticulture, the domaine is effectively organic, with no use of chemical herbicides or insecticides or other synthetic products, and the grapes are hand picked and vinified under indigenous yeasts.