2021 Branger - Muscadet Terroirs Les Gras Moutons

In 2016, Pépière's classic, earliest-release bottling saw an addition to the label, the "La Pépie" moniker, because of the necessity of adding non-estate fruit to the production (Pépière had 85% of their own crop devastated in 2016 due to mildew). It marks the first time the estate has purchased fruit.

It comes from neighboring parcels that match their terroirs and work philosophy. The wine is a combination of said purchased fruit and estate fruit, 50% of which comes from vineyards that could technically produce cru bottlings.

-Importer notes (Dressner)

Clos des Briords is located on the hillsides of the river Maine, a tributary of the Loire. The site totals 4.40 hectares and the vines were planted between 1950 and 1989, with the vast majority between 50 and 70 years old. These are the oldest vines of the estate and planted on soils of "granite de Thébaud"

A custom cuvée for European Cellars and a joint project between Eric Solomon and Jean-Marc Lafage, Bastide Miraflors is a cuvée created from old vine Grenache (30%) grown on the schist and granite soils of Saint-Paul de Fenouillet, a terroir that always ripens late in the year, and Syrah (70%) from gravelly soils near the Mediterranean. After a long maceration of six weeks, the wine ages for 12 months in roughly 3/4 concrete vats and 1/4 600L French oak demi-muids.