Jean-Baptiste Hardy Muscadet 'Fief de Chaintre' Magnum 2020

Jean-Baptiste Hardy is a former winemaking student of Meursault master Jean-Marc Roulot (at whose cellar Dan and Mark first met him a few years ago), and now makes his own thrilling terroir-driven white wines in Muscadet.

Since taking over his family’s estate in Mouzillon – one of nine recently defined Cru Communaux in Muscadet Sèvre et Maine – Jean-Baptiste has introduced a quality-focused, organic approach to farming his 4ha of old vine Melon de Bourgogne. Harvested by hand and pressed at low pressure, his ambitious wines are vinified for 12 months on the lees in traditional glass-lined underground tanks before bottling without fining or filtration.

As Muscadets, Jean-Baptiste’s two cuvées show remarkable textural richness, as well as detailed, stony minerality, his single-plot bottlings expressing the region’s unique ‘gabbro’ (black granite) soils from different perspectives. ‘Fief de Chaintre’, from a north-facing site, is taut and saline with bright apple, citrus, and earthy notes.