Corney & Barrow 

Jean-François Guilbaud’s Muscadet-sur-Lie from Château La Bretonnerie might be termed a timeless classic, yet this bone-dry white wine is also simply a delicious drink and the ultimate seafood match: refreshing and tonic, mineral-textured, with the oyster-shell scent evocative of its Atlantic home. Château La Bretonnerie lies in the small village of Saint-Fiacre in the rolling hills of the Pays Nantais, the most westerly vineyard area of France’s Loire Valley wine region. The people behind Château La Bretonnerie are Jean-François Guilbaud and Marie-Luce Métaireau, daughter of respected vigneron Louis Métaireau of Domaine du Grand Mouton. Today the Guilbaud/Métaireau dream team makes their wine from grapes of both estates. Following traditional methods, they use old oak casks to ferment and mature their wine carefully on its yeast ‘lees’, the key to Château La Bretonnerie’s benchmark Muscadet style.

Photo: Muscadet vineyard of Château La Bretonnerie