Melon de Bourgogne - the Grape That Refused to Die
- muscadet wine, a tale of two styles, survival of the fittest, and more!
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Today we are heading to France’s Loire Valley, specifically to Pays Nantais wine region. It is named after the city of Nantes in Upper Brittany and is France’s sixth largest city. Nantes is situated at the head of the Loire River estuary, 56 km from the Atlantic Ocean.
The region’s main grape?
Melon de Bourgogne, sometimes shortened to Melon or Muscadet.
Romans planted vines over 2000 years ago in the Pays Nantais, which were worthy enough to be documented as famous wines during the 1st century. But this was likely not wine made with Melon de Bourgogne, as its origin is Burgundy (Bourgogne in French). Melon’s existence there was recorded as of the 13th century.
Ironically, Melon got booted out of Burgundy, allowing Chardonnay to become the white wine star there. You may remember that Gamay suffered the same fate when exiled to Beaujolais – ceding the red limelight in Burgundy to Pinot Noir.
You must mean the grapelight?
Haha
Archives in Rennes (the region’s capital city) show the first evidence of Melon de Bourgogne in Nantes in 1616. The winter of 1708-1709 was extremely cold, often referred to as the Great Frost of 1709. In the Pays Nantais the Melon vines survived while the other existing vines were destroyed - resulting in Melon becoming the region’s main grape. This is still true today with about 95% of grapes grown in the Pays Nantais being Melon de Bourgogne.
It's shortened name, Muscadet, is actually the name (or portion thereof) of the several Pays Nantais Melon de Bourgogne subregions. The Muscadet subregions radiate west, south, east, and northeast of Nantes.
Melon has been planted in California, Oregon, Washington, & Ontario, and also still exists in small quantities in Burgundy. In California it was believed to be Pinot Blanc until some genetic testing in the 1980s proved it to be Melon de Bourgogne.
Is it related to Pinot Blanc, given it was confused for it?
In fact, yes. Melon’s parents are Pinot and Gouais Blanc.
Okay but not Pinot Blanc?
Well, all the Pinots – Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Meunier/Meunier are clones of Pinot Noir. This means they are all genetically the same – so there is no way to tell.
As an aside, did you know that Pinot and Gouais Blanc are the parents to 21 varieties in northeast France, including Aligoté, Auxerrois, Chardonnay, Gamay Noir, and Melon de Bourgogne?
That’s a lot of baby vines.
Indeed, Gouais Blanc has been referred to the Casanova of grapes, even frequenting other grape varieties!
I am surprised Muscadet has no relation to the Muscat grape as the name is similar.
Yes, you would think, right?
What is this Muscadet wine like?
The classic notes are that it is dry, “tastes like the sea” (due to its saline notes), and has some fresh, sometimes tart, notes. Its high acidity and lower alcohol percentage contributes to a light body. It tends to have lower intensity notes of green apple and citrus. It often is aged for a short time on the lees (spent yeast cells) to provide some weight (body) and texture/mouthfeel.
Its perfectly paired with shellfish including Moules-frites!
What grows together goes together!
Frankly, its style seems to be quite … neutral …
It is a subtle variety … perhaps too subtle. The Oxford Companion to Wine talks about how Muscadet wines are “undergoing revolution while trying to survive”.
Vive la résistance!
In some cases, the high acidity of the grape juice makes it difficult to achieve malolactic conversion (MLC). This contributes to Muscadet’s neutral nature. (Malolactic conversion is where the malic acid in the wine is converted to lactic acid. This gives the wine a creamier texture, softening the tart flavors into notes of cream, cheese, and sometimes butter.)
But the featured wine is definitely not subtle.
In fact the featured wine can be aged.
And you would not age a subtle, aka boring wine.
Exactly.
Isn’t the grape, the grape … why is the featured wine different?
In the mid-80’s experimentation started with these wines, including wooden barrel fermentation along with lees (dead yeast cell) stirring. It turns out that MLC can be better initiated due to this stirring.
So now the Oxford Companion refers to the Muscadet style as ranging from “crisp and fresh” to “concentrated and ambitious”
What the F does that mean!!
This is where the winemaking comes in, and the revolution has resulted in two styles – the original style that is more mineral driven, and the less ‘typical’ style. The latter is definitely what I get in the featured wine – and it is delicious. This wine is for those out there who like a rich Chardonnay! Check it out below for details on the featured wine!
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Gadais Père et Fils ‘Les Perrières Monopole’ Muscadet 2022 from Pays Nantais, Loire Valley, France
Style: Dry Minerally Medium Body White Wine
Varieties: 100% Melon de Bourgogne
This vibrant yet smooth wine has notes of lemon meringue, mandarin orange, and a hint of grapefruit, with the complexity of butterscotch, cream, cheese, and a hint of almond, custard, and caramel. The wine is intense in flavors and aromas and has a long finish.
Best pairings: Rich white meat & fish dishes with lemon butter sauce, Shrimp or crab dishes, Fettuccini Alfredo, Salads with citrus dressing, Cheese: Oka, mature, camembert-style soft cheese, chèvre
Serving Temperature: 9-11 degrees Celsius
Serving Tips: Simply enjoy!
Price: ~$35 Cdn
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SOURCES:
Carte Vignobles de Loire. (n.d.-a). https://www.vinsdeloire.fr/sites/interloire/files/inline-files/carte-vignobles-de-loire-010324.pdf
Gadais Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine les perrières monopole. (n.d.-b). https://enotri.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Gadais-Les-Perrieres-Monopole-Muscadet.pdf
Grape variety: Melon. Foundation Plant Services. (n.d.). https://fps.ucdavis.edu/fgrdetails.cfm?varietyid=956&bigpics=yes
Harding, J. and Robinson, J. (2023) The oxford companion to wine. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Loire Valley Wine Guide. Wine Folly. (n.d.). https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/loire-valley-wine-guide/
Loire wines: 2,000 years of history. Loire wines: 2,000 years of history | Vins de Loire. (n.d.). https://www.vinsdeloire.fr/en/wine-encyclopedia/fabrication/loire-wines-2000-years-history
MacNeil, K. (2022) The wine bible. New York, NY: Workman Publishing.
Media, O. (2025, July 6). Gadais Père et Fils. Enotri Wine Marketing. https://enotri.com/brand/gadais-pere-et-fils/
Melon de Bourgogne - Muscadet grape variety. Domaine Gadais Père & Fils. (2022, May 5). https://www.domainegadais.com/varietal-wines/melon-de-bourgogne/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur lie - our wines. Domaine Gadais Père & Fils. (2025, March 18). https://www.domainegadais.com/muscadet-sevre-maine-lie/#les-perrieres-monopole
Muscadet. Muscadet | Vins de Loire. (n.d.). https://www.vinsdeloire.fr/en/loire-wines/muscadet
Pinot: A treasure House of Clonal Riches. US Grapes - The Pinots. (n.d.). https://fps.ucdavis.edu/grapebook/winebook.cfm?chap=PinotNoir
WebDev, I. (2016, January 24). DNA fingerprinting reveals surprise in wine-grape family tree. UC Davis. https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/dna-fingerprinting-reveals-surprise-wine-grape-family-tree
Wikimedia Foundation. (2025, May 28). Great Frost of 1709. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Frost_of_1709
Wine & Spirit Education Trust (2021) D3: Wines of the World - An accompaniment to the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines. Version 1.2. London: Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
There have been a few attempts to commercialise Melon in Australia. Latest is by Wangolina Estate in the Mt Benson Region in Suoth Australia