Marc Pesnot is the man who will make you love Muscadet...at least for those who remain to be convinced! Portrait of a winemaker star in Japan who is the glory of the Nantes vineyard.
In the heart of Muscadet, Marc Pesnot is hiding. Based in Saint-Julien-de-Concelles, this winemaker , who is still a UFO in the Nantes vineyards, runs his Winery in the most natural way possible: the grapes are picked by hand, quality takes precedence over quantity, no sugar is added, no artificial yeast, no sulphur. This is a far cry from the habits of this vineyard, even if there are more and more winegrowers who are rehabilitating these terroirs. If Marc is where he is today, it is thanks to a revelation in the mid-1990s. Tasting the Beaujolais wines of Lapierre, the Arbois-Pupillin of Pierre Overnoy and the bottles of Winery Gramenon fascinated him. He fell under the spell of these magical potions. "I found this wine so splendid. Once I tasted it, I couldn't go back. It's so pure... You can drink a litre in the evening before going to bed, and the next day not have a headache or cramps!"
After much reflection and advice, the changeover took place in the early 2000s at his Winery in the Sénéchalière. He then became the only one in the area to produce 100% natural wines. From a terroir point of view, Marc Pesnot is well equipped. His old Folle Blanche vines, for example, are in their seventies and have always been handled with care by previous generations, without fertiliser or external products. These plots of land produce vintages that reflect the image of the place. The notion of "terroir" has its place here! To know the other turning point in the trajectory of Marc's wines, we must go back to the 2007 vintage. That year, he chose to pick his bunches in two passes to obtain a greater homogeneity of maturity. The vats were vinified separately, then blended after tasting. And there, while the vineyards of the Nantes region were struggling to get through this complex vintage, the feedback on Marc's wines was very good. Since then, this logic has been respected every year. Now at Vin de France, Marc Pesnot's Muscadet wines are a national and even worldwide success; more than 75% of his harvest is exported, especially to Japan, where he has a very extensive network of aficionados (he has a Japanese partner). A winemaker that makes the glory of Muscadet. Another Muscadet. This is very, very good!
