A Summer Salad with Muscadet #WinePW

Seasonal Summer Faire with Wines to Pair
Our Wine Pairing Weekend theme for July brings us to summer dishes and summer wines. You’ll find links to ideas from our writers further down in this post. For me, summer means lots of grilling (I have no space for a grill in France): BBQ, burgers, brats, etc… Summer also means cool dinner salads, perfect for beating the heat on muggy evenings in Minnesota. I’ll be highlighting a refreshing salad along with a deep dive into Muscadet wines.

Disclosure: I attended Loire Millésime 2025 in the Loire Valley as a member of the US press. The wine was purchased at retail locally in Minnesota. All opinions expressed are mine.

(click on any photo for a full size slide show)

Muscadet 101
Muscadet wines are made from the Melon B grape, an ancient white grape which originated in Bourgogne. Melon B is a natural crossing of ancient Pinot and Gouais Blanc, making it a sibling of Chardonnay, Aligoté, and Gamay Noir. Like Gamay Noir, Melon B was expelled from Bourgogne by King Phillippe II back in 1567. It found its way to the Loire valley where it was known as Muscadet. Melon B is well suited to a cool maritime climate, it thrives in the Pays Nantais near the city of Nantes, near the Atlantic Ocean. The entire region offers a thin layer of topsoil over a granite base. The vines work hard to send their roots into the granite. The majority of the vineyards are located between the rivers Sèvre and Maine, hence the Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine appellation. The wines offer mouthwatering acidity, a touch of salinity, light citrus notes such as lemon. Better Muscadet wines are aged on their lees (sur lie), bringing a richer, creamier mouthfeel to balance the acidity. Also, nutty and yeasty aromas can be found. The combination of abundant acidity and sur lie aging means that Muscadet Sèvre et Maine wines mature beautifully with time.

Sur Lie Aging
The short video below demonstrates how the wines are aged sur lie with regular stirring of the lees. After stirring, the lees will remain suspended in the maturing wine for several weeks!

Muscadet Appellations
Muscadet wines are not well known in the US, consequently they offer excellent quality for the price. Even the top Cru Communeaux wines retail for $25-35 here. They will improve with age; if you are curious about aging wines, these are an affordable way to start! They are also delicious from release, so don’t hesitate to enjoy them young.

• Muscadet AOC – Melon grape with up to 10% Chardonnay allowed. Aged sur lie less than 10 months. Infrequently seen in the US market.
• Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie AOC – 100% Melon B grape, maximum allowed sur lie aging of 18 months. These are the best known Muscadet wines in the US market. They typically use the “Sur Lie” embossed bottle as well as Sur Lie on the label.
• Cru Communeaux Muscadet Sèvre et Maine AOC – does not show the “sur lie” name, though wines are aged sur lie for 18-40 months depending on the cru. The Cru name will be featured on the label. The Crus are: Clisson, Château-Thébaud, Gorges, Le Pallet, Monnières-Saint Fiacre, Goulaine, Mouzillon-Tillières, La Haye Fouassière, Vallet, Champtoceaux.

Domaine des Cognettes Muscadet Sévre et Maine, “Clisson” AOC 2019 ($25 purchased locally) 13.5% abv
This wine comes from the Cru Communeaux Clisson. 100% Melon Blanc, old vines. Winery certified organic in 2010, fermented for 9 weeks on indigenous yeasts, then aged sur lie for 36 months. Very low sulfur at bottling.
Eye: Pale gold with green highlights
Nose: Medium intensity aromas of lemon, almonds, cream, hint of sea spray
Mouth: Dry, mouthwatering high acidity with a nice creamy texture, medium plus body, medium alcohol, medium intensity flavors, medium plus finish.
Observations: This wine shone beautifully with our shrimp salad dinner. The creamier texture was very nice with shrimp and would have been equally nice with scallops or other crustaceans. A white wine drinker would find the creamy texture and fuller body would even stand up to red meat.

Pearl Couscous Salad with Shrimp and Feta – Paired with Muscadet
We love cool salads-as-dinner in the summer. We have our favorites, but I’m always looking for something new. Today we tried a Pearl Couscous Salad with Shrimp and Feta from the New York Times. The only cooking required was the couscous and the shrimp. The salad was cool and the shrimp were quickly sautéed and served warm on top. The extra body and texture in the Cru Communeaux Muscadet paired beautifully with the rich flavor of the shrimp while simultaneously offering refreshing acidity and freshness.

Ideas for Summer Meals with Wines to Pair from our Wine Pairing Weekend Writers
Take a look below, you’re sure to find a new dish or wine pairing!
• Jeff of Food Wine Click! is sharing “A Summer Salad with Muscadet” 
• David of Cooking Chat has  “A Chillable Red for a Summer Spread” 
• Camilla of Culinary Cam cooked up “Albacore Tuna Burgers + Midpoint’s 2024 February’s Bouquet Rosé” 
• Jennifer of Vino Travels has “Bubbles and Bites: Prosecco and Frittata to Please your Palate“
• Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm writes about The Wine I Paired with Classic Summer Fare

Sources and More Information

• Details on the Melon B grape: Robinson, Jancis; Harding, Julia; Vouillamoz, Jose. Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours: A James Beard Award Winner (p. 1529). (Function). Kindle Edition.
• Overarching Vins de Loire website
• Website for the Muscadet Cru Communeaux with extensive links to the villages and wineries
• Muscadet Vignerons Manifesto – it’s in French, but fun to work through!