It should come as no surprise that the motto of the Guilbaud family is serious and tradition. For that is exactly what their wines are all about. The family-owned house produces the fabulously dry, white, crisp and taste-filled Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine AOC white wines in one of the most eastern of the Loire Valley wine growing regions. The winery makes its wines from four different estates all located on the banks of the Sèvre Nantaise, a tributary of the Loire. These are very high quality Muscadets and given the various growing estates, are all unique in and of themselves.

Muscadets are produced in the area around Nantes just before the Loire flows into the Atlantic Ocean and are thoroughly delightful with the fish dishes of Brittany. The best of the best are the those emanating from Sèvre-et-Maine directly east of Nantes. They taste their best when young, two years at most after harvesting and these Muscadets have a rather fruity bouquet in addition to their pronounced dryness. However there are exceptions to this rule. The Gourmet Gazette enjoyed an excellent Guilbaud Frères Le Clos du Pont 2012 Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine AOC, made with one grape variety the Melon B or Melon of Burgundy which thrives in the schist soils of the eastern Loire Valley and is hard to come by in its native region of Burgundy. It turns out that certain Muscadets can be aged for 20 years and are still excellent, although a certain secretiveness revolves around their making of. We also savored another elder Muscadet, a Château de la Pingossière 2018, Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine sur Lie AOC from Guilbaud Frères which was paired with an 18-month old fruity Comté cheese at a recent wine and food pairing lunch at Pasco, a Guy Martin restaurant in Paris.  

But what turned out to be outstanding and great value was the house’s Le Soleil Nantais 2021 Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine sur Lie. It thoroughly demonstrated why this wine is perfect with seafood platters and particularly oysters which fortunately are abundant in the region. And all of the Muscadets from the house of Guilbaud Frères are superb with the local goat cheeses. The cheeses and the oysters can be found in Paris and elsewhere, as well. Sur Lie in the region implies that the wine must be bottled before the December 1st following the harvest. One of our favorites, too, was the house’s Domaine de la Moutonnière Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine sur Lie AOC. Edouard and Marcel Guilbaud who descend from a long line of local wine makers founded Guilbaud Frères in 1927. Today the third and fourth generation of the family perpetuate their great tradition of making not Muscadet, but as they say, Muscadets. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. https://www.guilbaud-muscadet.com/en/Home/