Appellation: Muscadet Sèvre et Maine
Cuvée: Fief Seigneur
Colour: White
Grapes: Melon de Bourgogne
About: Fief Seigner is the name of the lieu-dit in which Vincent has several parcels one (or sometimes two) of which goes into this Cuvée and after which the Cuvée is named.
Vines
Location: Monnières
Size: 1 ha
Age: planted in 1960
Soils: metamorphic rocks of gneiss
Exposition: south-facing
Altitude: between 40 and 50 m
Training: on wire
Farming philosophy: organic with mix of grasses and an occasional plough depending on the season adapted to keep the soils living
Average yield hl/ha: 50
Climate: Atlantic but nowadays a moving target with hotter and drier summers.
Winemaking
The harvest is left whole and pressed to ferment in underground concrete tank, using natural yeasts. Ferment usually lasts around 15 days, then the wine is racked and returned to concrete tank to age on lees for 15 months.
Vintage Notes 2020
After a normal winter the vines were hit by April frosts which for once didn’t result in great losses. Late Spring was hot and dry, the summer an abundant mix of sunshine and some rain which made up the yields. Fruit health was excellent and the harvest took place very early, from 26 August to 23 September.
Date bottled: 2022-01
Bottles produced: 8,600
Alcohol %: 12
SO2 Total: 81
Tasting: 2022-05-21 super ripe, rich fruit, some sweetness. Nice apple, peach, salty, medium body, a pleasure.
Vintage Notes 2021
After a normal winter the vines suffered yet another April frost, on the 8th and subsequently on and off into May, this time particularly catastrophic with losses up to 75%. The summer was sunny and not especially hot, leading to a late harvest with good fruit health, from 21 September to 15 October.
Vintage Notes 2022
After an almost normal winter, with cold and rain, the vines were shaken yet again by a Spring frost (now every year since 2016 except 2018) from April 1 to 4 which decimated up to 30% of the crop. Flowering took place in relatively stable conditions in early June. After which it was very dry and very hot and subject to a regular wind from the East. Depending the area there was between 20 and 30mm rain towards the end of August, very welcome and helping to achieve a great balance between sweetness and acidity and resulting in a great vintage, up there with 1976 and 2003. The harvest was one of the earliest on record, from 26 August to 23 September.