Brilliant New Releases from a Biodynamic Loire Valley Icon
“Jo Landron has so tirelessly served as an international ambassador for his appellation that his memorable mustache and Muscadets have become regional icons… if you walk away uninspired from a conversation with this man, then viticulture just doesn’t move you.” David Schildknecht
“While some Muscadet vignerons seem to be shifting their focus to new wines from unusual varieties with funky labels and wax capsules, others such as Jo Landron just keep on doing what they do best, which as it happens is turning out some of the most vibrant, textured, punchy examples of Muscadet that exist.” Chris Kissack,
The last time we tasted with Jo Landron was at the organic La Levée de la Loire tasting in Angers, February 2020. Knowing we had travelled some distance and would not have time to visit the Domaine, Landron had bottled some samples of this 2019s to give us an insight into the vintage. Before even pouring the wines, it was obvious something special was going to be in our glasses, due to Landron’s enthusiasm about the delightful—if low-yielding—vintage.
They don’t mind it warm and dry in Muscadet (well not too warm and dry), and a balmy growing season coupled with low volumes came home to roost in 2019 at chez Landron. The wines have a tighter feel and a stronger acid backbone than the 2018s. And, while there’s alluring pulpy silkiness across the board, Landron’s 2019s are also marked by chiselled clarity and laser-like intensity.
Jumping back a few vintages, the latest release of Jo Landron’s tour-de-force La Fief du Breil comes from 2016. In any given vintage this striking Muscadet is one of the region’s most singular wines. From a frost-bitten vintage, the 2016 was crafted from yields as low as 14 hl/ha. It is a wine to remind the world of the heights to which Muscadet can aspire.
Note: These are not wines to serve too chilled. On the contrary, they are far better at wine fridge temperature (10-15 degrees).
Landron has been certified organic for 20 years, and biodynamic for 13. Everything is done by hand, from shoot-thinning to pruning to hand harvesting—even for the introductory wines. “Minerality is not free,” exclaims Landron, “you have to work for it!”. And mineral intensity is one thing that Landron’s wines have in abundance.
In the cellar, the grapes are softly pressed and naturally fermented in glass-lined cement tanks before extended lees ageing, which helps to give these Muscadets their trademark texture and complexity. They are finely etched, soil-specific wines; “every soil has its own potential and identity,” says Landron, a logic that is brilliantly reflected in the wines he bottles. They represent the antithesis of the bland, neutral, over-cropped norm that unfortunately dominates this region.
NV Jo Landron Brut Atmosphères
This Loire bubbles has been enjoying plenty of love among those who know the wine, and no wonder. It’s a hand-harvested, Estate-grown, biodynamic, naturally fermented, low-dosage fizz that shows up many conventional Champagnes for both quality and value. Topping off an impressive package is the marvellous label designed by legendary French illustrator, Michel Tolmer (of Mimi, Fifi and Glouglou fame).
Jo Landron is not a fan of using Muscadet’s Melon de Bourgogne for sparkling wine, preferring instead a blend of around 75% Folle Blanche (grown on sandy clay), with a balance of Pinot Noir (grown on gravelly soils). Vine age varies between 18 and 30 years. The yields are typically between 50 and 60 hl/ha—far lower than the average yields in Champagne. The base wines are fermented naturally and then go through a traditional second fermentation in bottle, where they remain for a minimum of 24 months. The dosage is a low five grams per litre. On top of all this, the fruit for this cuvée is from a single vintage (2018 in this case).
This list of attributes sounds like the winegrowing and making approach of a top grower in Champagne, not a humble Muscadet producer! It’s no surprise then that the result is a wine of impressive depth and complexity. Expect a super-mineral, earthy, rocky wine with waves of racy citrus and fresh nectarine fruit and lots of flinty, talc-like, salty complexity, then a delicious lick of smoky Pinot breadiness to close. This is simply one of the finest sparkling bargains going around.
2019 Jo Landron Muscadet Sèvre et Maine La Louvetrie
Jo Landron’s La Louvetrie cuvée originates from soils rich in amphibolite, sand, clay and gneiss. It remains the Estate’s only wine made from a blend off different sites (and includes younger vine fruit from Landron’s top vineyards). The vines for this release are 15-30 years old and cropped low (for Muscadet) at just 50hl/ha. It was bottled with a low dose of sulphur after an élevage between eight and 12 months.
It is a blinder of a wine, packed full of juicy fruit and vibrant Atlantic zing. The new vintage is not dissimilar to last year’s stunner, with generous, zesty, pithy, lemon/lime fruit alongside a ton of salinity. It glides with fantastic vibrancy across the palate, with oodles of compact fruit balanced by a mouth-watering stony/savoury element and a cool finish that crackles with freshness and length. The value on offer here is off the charts.
2019 Jo Landron Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Amphibolite
This cuvée derives its name from the greenish, metamorphic bedrock (amphibolite) that dominates the soils in which it is grown. Produced from vines aged between 35 and 40 years, this unique wine was vinified with only a short period on lees, as Jo Landron wanted to retain as much freshness and minerality as possible. Only minor doses of sulphur were used to block malo. Bottling occurred early (in March), and without filtration, to retain the earth-to-glass essence of the wine.
With some lovely textural padding this year it’s an ultra-pure, racy expression of Muscadet loaded with white floral notes and all kinds of citrus underpinned by the iodine minerality that is a hallmark of this cuvée.
“This much-heralded cuvée shows a finely expressed style in this vintage, brimming with minty saline and iodine notes, along with softer notes of crushed chalk which give the wine a mineral freshness. There is a similarly soft style on the palate which is plush and lightly gripped, with lots of midpalate substance. I find good energy here, a bright and pure style, cool with a charming grip. This has fine promise. As usual it will be best drunk over the next couple of years.” 92-94 points, Chris Kissack, The Wine Doctor
2019 Jo Landron Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Amphibolite
This cuvée derives its name from the greenish, metamorphic bedrock (amphibolite) that dominates the soils in which it is grown. Produced from vines aged between 35 and 40 years, this unique wine was vinified with only a short period on lees, as Jo Landron wanted to retain as much freshness and minerality as possible. Only minor doses of sulphur were used to block malo. Bottling occurred early (in March), and without filtration, to retain the earth-to-glass essence of the wine.
With some lovely textural padding this year it’s an ultra-pure, racy expression of Muscadet loaded with white floral notes and all kinds of citrus underpinned by the iodine minerality that is a hallmark of this cuvée.
“This much-heralded cuvée shows a finely expressed style in this vintage, brimming with minty saline and iodine notes, along with softer notes of crushed chalk which give the wine a mineral freshness. There is a similarly soft style on the palate which is plush and lightly gripped, with lots of midpalate substance. I find good energy here, a bright and pure style, cool with a charming grip. This has fine promise. As usual it will be best drunk over the next couple of years.” 92-94 points, Chris Kissack, The Wine Doctor
2016 Jo Landron Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Le Fief du Breil
Le Fief du Breil comes from a single, six-hectare biodynamically farmed vineyard, situated on a south-facing slope above the Sèvre river in La Haye-Fouassière. Fief is a term from the Middle Ages which means a piece of land once associated with (and probably owned by) the local Abbey or Duke. This in turn infers 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. The vines are also surrounded by old walls, 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. While Muscadet is generally flat, Jo notes that this vineyard is on “a hill by local standards”. The vines are also open directly to the south, an ideal exposure to produce one of the region’s benchmarks. The vines here are 45 years old; Landron prunes very short, and also shoot-thins to restrict yields.
While 2016 was an annus horribilis in terms of yields (Le Fief du Breil was cropped at a miserly 14 hl/ha) the resulting wine is out of this world. Hand-harvested, of course, the wine was slowly and naturally fermented before being raised in Landron’s large, subterranean cement tanks. This bottling has spent a full 30 months on its lees, resulting in the sort of multi-layered complexity that is about as far removed from the regional stereotype as can be imagined.
Described by one French critic as an archetype of great Muscadet, Landron’s 2016 is a marriage of earthy, mineral punch matched with fleshy texture and the crunch of stringent acidity. The wine unfurls in layers of sharply focussed crushed stone, smoky citrus and hazelnut complexity, intertwined with the undertone of peat smoke that we often see in this cuvée. It finishes long and bright with what Landron describes as a pleasing amertume (or bitterness), although we would perhaps describe this as grip. This is something special that Loire lovers should not miss.
Source: bibendum.com.au