Domaine de la Pepiere, Muscadet Sevre-et-Maine "La Pepie", 2025

Mise Précoce — "early bottling" — is exactly what it sounds like: a fresh, youthful release of Pépière's superb Muscadet, bottled soon after harvest to capture every ounce of that crackling first-press energy. Domaine de la Pépière was founded in 1984 by Marc Ollivier, a quiet revolutionary who pushed Muscadet toward chemical-free farming, terroir expression, and age-worthy whites long before it was fashionable. Today the domaine is run by former protégés Rémi Branger and Gwénaëlle Croix, who maintain the high Pépière standard across 42 hectares of mineral-rich, granite-based soils. The 2025 Mise Précoce showcases Melon de Bourgogne at its most vivid and zippy — a wine to drink young, drink cold, and drink often. Few wines deliver this much pleasure for this little outlay.