Landron’s tour de force, Le Fief du Breil, comes from a single, six-hectare biodynamically farmed vineyard on a south-facing slope above the Sèvre River in La Haye-Fouassière. Fief is a term from the Middle Ages, meaning a piece of land once associated with (and probably owned by) the local Abbey or Duke. This implies quality, as the local rulers tended to keep the best parcels for themselves. Breil means ‘next to the forest’, indicating the woodland this parcel borders. Old walls surround the vines, another sign of its historical significance.
The soils here are rich in silex (flint), river pebbles, quartz and granite, all laid over a bedrock of orthogneiss—a geologically complex site. And while Muscadet is generally flat, Jo notes that this vineyard is on “a hill by local standards”, as you can see in this clip. The 50-year-old vines open directly to the south, offering ideal exposure to produce one of the region’s benchmarks.
As you might expect from this great estate's oldest, low-yielding vines, this is Muscadet at its most penetrating and precise. Aged on its lees for 36 months, the wine has developed intense, smoky, iodine-rich characters on the nose, leading to a pulpy, smooth texture shot through with citrus pith, camomile and an almond oil and resinous complexity. This is supported by saline freshness and mineral sensation. A stunning Muscadet. Although drinking well now, Le Fief du Breil cellars wonderfully, developing extraordinary mineral crunch as it matures over the years. If you can wait, give it five years to unfurl. If drinking it sooner, give it a good decant and marvel at the magic that unfolds in the glass over a few hours. A multi-layered, terroir-driven bargain from one of the Loire’s finest growers.