It seems an age since we first went out to visit (and prune!) Christelle Guibert’s newly purchased parcel of 45 year old vines in the heart of Monnieres. Her vision then was to restore a semi abandoned vineyard using techniques and method learned from her mentor Vincent Caille, whilst using her own broad knowledge of wine making to make something that was unique to her.

The first wine, produced in tiny quantities in 2015 yielded a gorgeous wine that impressed all who tasted it, even journalists who may have been sceptical at first that Muscadet could reach such complex and refined heights. The fruit is pressed at Vincent’s cellar in the village and then aged in a concrete egg, which were still an uncommon sight in those days and left on the fine lees for 20 months. I remember tasting the wine midway through elevage and we were nervous that the richness would turn flabby, but Vincent encouraged waiting, and as it turned out he was entirely correct. The wine turned out beautifully.

So we are happy and excited to be able to release a wine made during troubled times from an almost perfect vintage, and one that is not unlike 2015 in so many ways, albeit from a vineyard that has been properly managed for 7 years, not the two years of 2015. We have a limited amount which has now landed in LCB and we hope you take the opportunity to take some to both drink now and cellar for a few years (the 2015 is still growing in interest).