Melon de Bourgogne

The grape behind Muscadet at the mouth of the Loire. Aromatically restrained, it yields a dry wine of sharp acidity and salinity. Ageing on the lees — sur lie — adds a bready savour and a faint prickle of gas.

History

Burgundian by origin, as the name says, but it took root at the mouth of the Loire after the great freeze of 1709 wiped out the local vines and this hardier grape was replanted. Dutch merchants seeking wine for distillation helped it spread. It is now scarcely grown in Burgundy itself.