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Domain: Domaine de l'Ecu

We’re off to Muscadet! Frédéric Niger’s Domaine de l’Ecu is one of the region’s landmark properties. His fine terroir wines, organic, biodynamic and natural, will convince those who taste it of Muscadet’s capacity to produce truly fine wines.

Domaine de l'Ecu lies south-east of Nantes in the heart of Muscadet wine country. The 21 hectare property used to be owned by the Bossard family and was converted to organic viticulture in 1972 (certified in 1975) and biodynamic viticulure in 1992 (certified in 1996) by Guy Bossard. In 2010, Frédéric Niger, a serious wine enthusiast, bought the domain, abandoning his career in IT to study viticulture and oenology and to learn the craft alongside Guy Bossard. The transition was smooth and Guy worked with Frédéric for several years to pass on his know-how. The wines here are cultivated through Massal selection and tended with the utmost care (biodynamic). Winemaking processes are as low intervention as possible, using indigenous yeasts, an absolute minimum of sulphur, and amphorae (the property owns some 80 amphorae of varying capacities, sourced primarily from the South of France and Northern Italy). The wines show a great affinity with their terroir which is expressed in a potent mineral quality, achieved without the use of additives. This domain is truly in a class of its own in Muscadet and is well worth discovering.