Excelsior AOP 2018

Domaine Luneau-Papin is located southeast of Nantes and was founded by Pierre Luneau and Monique Papin. After the Luneau brothers separated in the 90ies in a dispute about the type of cultivation they wanted, Pierre Luneau and his wife Monique Papin merged their estates and founded the Domaine Luneau-Papin. Since 2005, the family business has been supported by son Jean-Marie and his wife Marie, who have meanwhile taken over the management of the estate. They started to cultivate the single parcels one by one and approached in careful steps more and more the organic cultivation, which is meanwhile certified by the Demeter association. The wines of the domaine are exclusively made of the Melon de Bourgogne, which came to the Loire with Burgundian monks in the 16th century.

The Excelsior comes from vines over 80 years old from the heavily schistous parcel "La Plécisière" in the village of Chapelle-Heulin. The vineyards are cultivated exclusively by hand and fertilized with purely organic material. The yields are around 30hl/ha. After pressing, the juice goes into the typical glass-tiled concrete tanks where it ferments at a good 20 degrees before maturing on the lees for 36 months. Regular stirring during this time prepares it for a further 24 months of maturation on the fine lees before it is bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Light golden yellow with green reflections, bright and clear.

The nose of Domaine Luneau-Papin's 2018 Excelsior forms an isosceles triangle of fruit, yeast aging and wet stones, with the lengths of the sides iridescent depending on aeration. Although this is "only" a Muscadet, it is highly recommended to pour the Excelsior upside down into the decanter. Then notes of dried fruit like apple rings and quince show up along with aromas of fresh kitchen herbs like borage and goutweed. The whole is underpinned by a massive foundation of wet stone and anticipates a highly mineral experience on the palate.

On the palate, Excelsior directly builds up enormous pressure with royal self-confidence and pulsates like the pumping bass from the pipes of the subwoofer. With immense inner tension, it plunges down the throat refreshingly cool and rushing like a mountain stream without losing substance. Rather, it combines Bacchic hedonism with the protocol of the upscale table in the goblet and, enjoyed in its youthful stage, clearly demands excellent cooking at eye level. Also after some years of bottle maturity, it should be cooked up for its excellence.