Dom. des Trois Toits Muscadet Sevre et Maine

The Man... Hubert Rousseau farms just south of Nantes, a city at the western end of the Loire River, on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. His farm is in an area called La Nicoliere, a stony land that is capable of of making the classic, mineral-laden style of Muscadet for which the region became famous. I’m curious to see what Rousseau’s Domaine des Trois Toits (Domaine of the Three Roofs) looks like. I’m guessing he has more than one building.

The Land... Three prime hectares of Domaine des Trois Toits were purchased from the now retired neighbor Lucien Pauvert, former proprietor of Domaine de la Bourne. Muscadet is flat, and extremely machine-harvestable. Human nature being what it is, many proprietors use rumbling machinery to efficiently bring in damaged fruit. It is up to the scant numbers of growers like Rousseau who are concerned with making real quality wine to rescue the damaged reputation of Muscadet.

The Uphill Battle... So while this is a region with a distinct soil type that is excellent for growing grapes, in short a region brimming with potential, over the course of decades the western Loire has become primarily a source of thin, one-dimensional, ridiculously overcropped white wines. Today most wine in the area is still industrial junk. A taste of the ripe, delicate stony citrus Muscadet made at Domaine des Trois Toits will wash away the memory of bad Muscadet, and wash down some oysters nicely as well.