Muscadet "La Pépie" (Mise Précoce)

100% Melon de Bourgogne. Classic Muscadet on granite. The "La Pépie" Sur Lie bottling comes from the heart of the Pépière domaine, ten hectares in the Clisson cru in the tiny commune of Pépière near the winery. This certified-biodynamic estate fruit is around 2/3 of the blend; the remaining 1/3 is vinified from purchased fruit from organically farmed vines aged 20-70 years. Harvest is done by hand.
La Pépie sets the course for how all Pépière wines are vinified and aged. The whole bunches are direct-pressed very gently. The juice settles naturally in steel tanks for 12 hours. It is fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts. The young wine is moved by gravity to large underground tanks of glass-lined cement. The earliest released of the line-up, La Pépie is aged on its lees for 6-8 months and bottled without filtration.
Note that in some vintages, like 2025, the domaine selects a portion of La Pépie to bottle after only 3-4 months, hence its nickname of mise précoce (not on the label) or "early bottling" for this rendition. It goes into a Burgundy bottle intead of the usual flute and is classified as straight "Muscadet" rather than "Muscadet-Sur-Lie".