Melon Vin de France 2023 Domaine de la Cadette

The Melon de Bourgogne is the grape variety of Muscadet, but its name says it all: Burgundy is its land of origin, from which it was exiled in the fifteenth century when Chardonnay arrived to replace it. Today, almost no one cultivates it in Burgundy anymore. Valentin Montanet, at the helm of Domaine de la Cadette in Vézelay, is one of the very few who still does: he ferments it with spontaneous fermentation from indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, then ages it on its lees for eight to ten months without chaptalization, fining, or filtration. The Montanet family, which since 1987 has helped put Vézelay back on the wine map of Burgundy with the same philosophy that guided Marcel Lapierre in Beaujolais, treats Melon as a rarity to be protected. The result is a pale, dry, digestible, and low-alcohol white, with a profile of green apple, citrus, and a mineral salinity that calls for seafood. A wine that is a piece of Burgundian archaeology in a bottle.