Weekend wine with Blake Creedon

Never mind the weather — out here in the Atlantic, there’s no predicting from day to day whether we’ll be basking in the sun or dodging the hail — but the clocks go forward an hour tonight, meaning that from tomorrow it’ll be bright until about 8pm, inspiring us to head towards lighter dishes on the dinner menu and wines that put the emphasis on freshness and light.

We understandably associate ‘freshness’ with white wines — and yes, reds have a whole dimension of depth and gravity which in many instances will predominate. But acidity and fruit flavours from the lighter end of the spectrum are shared by both red and white wine, and many red wines with relatively light texture and moderate tannin do showcase that gorgeous lightness.

One of today’s highlighted wines (below) is the product of a tradition which evolved in part of the Muscadet wine region where the Loire flows into the Atlantic. In one sub-appellation — Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, named for the two tributary rivers that bound it — winemakers add a balancing bit of oomph to the light melon de Bourgogne grape by allowing it remain cloudy and unfiltered in tanks as it rests for months after fermentation. This practice of resting the wine on its lees, the solid remnants of fermentation, imbues the finished wine with a lovely slightly grainy, oaty texture. That’s what’s meant by the ‘sur lie’ part of the name on Muscadets. The whole is a soft sort of richness, a lovely step down in pace for palates jaded by the big modern wine styles we enjoy — but which are sometimes just a little bit too much.