In the Muscadet village of Le Landreau, Domaine de l'Ecu has spent decades proving that Melon de Bourgogne can speak as clearly of its bedrock as any grape in France.
Backstory
The estate's reputation was built by Guy Bossard, a pioneer of organic and biodynamic farming in the Nantais. Frederic Niger Van Herck, known as Fred, took over in stages: a former IT professional from Nantes with a law background, he retrained in viticulture, arrived to work with Bossard around the 2008 to 2009 harvests, and assumed full control of the estate at the start of 2011. He runs it today with his wife Claire.
The Region
Le Landreau lies in the Loire-Atlantique, roughly 29 kilometres east of Nantes, in the heart of Muscadet Sevre et Maine. The area's geological patchwork of different rock types is central to the domaine's identity.
Vineyards and Farming
The vines have been farmed organically for over forty years and certified biodynamic by Demeter for more than twenty. Fred is a committed biodynamic practitioner who has moved beyond his predecessor's methods, working with essential oils, mother tinctures and other preparations to keep the vineyards alive.
Winemaking
Fred has invested heavily in terracotta, building a collection of more than seventy-five amphorae ranging from roughly 150 to 800 litres for fermentation and aging. The classic terroir cuvees are bottled by bedrock and named for it, including Gneiss, Orthogneiss and Granite, with the wines typically aged on their lees for around fifteen to eighteen months to build texture and depth.
The Wines
Alongside the single-rock Muscadets and amphora-aged cuvees, the range extends to other Loire varieties and sparkling wines, but the heart of the domaine remains its mineral, age-worthy expressions of Melon de Bourgogne.
