Crisp and zesty Muscadet is the perfect seafood match

Here are some great-value examples of this delicious yet often overlooked white wine

Five bottles of Muscadet to try

Aoife Carrigy

The next time you’re planning any class of seafood lunch or supper, picnic or barbecue, snack-fest or full-blown feast, do yourself a favour and seek out a Muscadet to match. This single-varietal, regional wine style gets too-often overlooked — one benefit being some great value on offer.

France’s cool-climate Loire Valley is home to various mineral-laced, citrus-driven and refreshing white wines. Nervy Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre’s limestone, silex and flinty soils in the east. Or, along the mid-section of this long, châteaux-lined river, Saumur and Touraine’s chalky tuffeau soils and cellars where juicy Chenin Blanc grows and ferments. The sea-sprayed, mist-cooled Muscadet region, however, is where that crisp bite of minerality and twist of lemon zest reaches its most lip-smacking.