In My Glass Mussels and Muscadet

Mussels &

A plate of mussels in northern France.

Muscadet wine has to rank as one of the world’s most misunderstood wines. Here’s what it isn’t. It’s nothing like a Moscato. If you’re expecting something like a Moscato, you’re in for a shock. Muscadet is a bone-dry, lightbodied white wine, not even a hint of sweetness. A Muscadine? Not even close. In fact, Muscadet is not a grape at all. Like almost all French wines, the wine is named after where it’s from, not what’s in it. Muscadet is on the western end of the Loire River, close to the Atlantic Ocean. The wines are made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape—a refugee from the famous region of Burgundy.

Here’s what I find interesting about the wine. Years ago, the world was a much larger place. People rarely left their region, rarely left their village. The upshot of this was that local foods and wines were all they had. Over the years, foods and wine evolved to be compatible with each other. That’s what happened with Muscadet. Traditionally, the northwestern part of France depended on the ocean for sustenance. Fishing is still a large part of its economy. It’s home to some of the best seafood restaurants you can find. And Muscadet is a great complement to that cuisine.

So, my wife Mary Ellen and I headed to Honfleur with food and wine in mind. With absolutely no scientific

Muscadet

These local cheeses paired perfectly with Muscadet.

While similar in name to other wines, this one stands out on its own

BY » Trevor Burton PHOTOGRAPHY BY » Trevor Burton

evidence to back it up, I find that wines just taste better when you’re close to their home. No scientific evidence but a boatload of experiences.

Honfleur has become somewhat of a tourist destination and tends to get a little crowded. There are several restaurants that cater to the tourist horde. We wanted no part of them, we had made a lunch reservation at a small, family-owned restaurant away from the main part of town. No surprise, Muscadet pairs wonderfully with seafood. We had our hearts set on some oysters but, unfortunately, we were there in a month containing no “R.” So we settled on a dish of mussels. Spectacular and about to get better.

A word about the wine. Muscadets are lean and crisp; you can almost taste the ocean. Muscadet vineyards closer to the sea receive more of this salty note due to salty sea breezes—very neat. The wine is an excellent seafood pairing wine due to its crisp, minerally, citrus-like taste and high acidity. The sub-region, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, is the largest and most important region for high quality Muscadet. It is common to see “sur lie” on a label. This is a process of aging wines on dead yeast particles, lees. This type of aging smooths out the wine. It produces a creamy texture and yeasty flavor and adds a hint of fruit to the wine.

Back to lunch, A long, languid meal of exquisitely prepared mussels and a bottle of Sèvre et Maine, sur lie Muscadet. Just one more data point in my “wines just taste better when you’re close to their home” studies. And it did taste spectacular. Then, as I said, it got better.

We still had some wine left after lunch. I asked if we could get some local cheeses to go with it. We didn’t get just a plate of cheeses; we were served huge hunks of cheese to cut off as we desired. This was a food and wine home run. The dish of mussels was wonderful, and this was a perfect ending to lunch. I want to go back.

Muscadet wines are definitely widely available around the lake. If you come across one on a wine list, give it a shot. Especially with some seafood. Back to my misunderstood comment—that means the wines are not too much in demand. That means they are great value wines. What could be better? A great wine that’s a great value and a wonderful companion for some seafood.