Bêtes Curieuses Muscadet de Sevre et Maine "Chateau-Thebaud" 2017

They call themselves “Les Bêtes Curieuses” (“the curious beasts”) and are shown on the label yukking it up while seated astride two wine barrels, but Jérémie Huchet and Jérémie Mourat are very serious when it comes to Muscadet: Their shared ambition is to show how much longevity and refinement a well-sourced, well-made Muscadet Sèvre et Maine can deliver. 

If you think of Muscadet only as crisp, quaffable white to enjoy nice and cold with a platter of oysters, try today’s 2013 from the acclaimed Château-Thébaud subzone and you’ll see there’s a thrilling next level of depth and complexity you may not have considered. Then again, maybe you have considered it: The granite-rich Château-Thébaud is a bona-fide Grand Cru of the Western Loire, made famous by producers like Huchet’s neighbor, Domaine de la Pépière. Huchet and Mourat have a shared passion for old vines, organic farming, and above all, the intricacies of terroir; their collaborative Les Bêtes Curieuses wines are meant to showcase the diverse mosaic of soils in the Sèvre and Maine river valleys, the heartland of Muscadet country. Remember that the proper name for the grape in this wine is Melon de Bourgogne—especially apt in this case because this 2013 will stand toe-to-toe with aged white Burgundies costing much, much more. Jump on this!