Pays Nantais

Area (also known as Nantais) with around 16,500 hectares of vineyards to the east and south-east around the city of Nantes in the Loire Atlantique and partly in the Maine-et-Loire and Vendée departments. It is the westernmost area of the French Loire wine region near the Atlantic Ocean. The Romans brought their vines to this area at the beginning of the era. An extremely cold winter in 1709, whose frosts even froze the sea along the coast, destroyed all the vineyards. They were then replanted with the Melon de Bourgogne grape variety introduced from Burgundy (here called Muscadet), from which very special wines with yeast sedimentation (Sur lie) typical of this region were produced. A sign with the inscription "Ici Berceau du Muscadet" in the Château da la Cassemichère in the commune of La Chapelle-Heulin indicates the place where the first vines were planted in 1740. The Atlantic climate is characterised by the nearby sea, the vineyards are situated on stony soils mixed with igneous rock on sunny slopes. In the Pays Nantais area there are the appellations Coteaux d'Ancenis, Fiefs Vendéens, Gros Plant du Pays Nantais and Muscadet. To the west of Pays Nantais is the Anjou appellation.

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Pays Nantais

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