Complemen'terre

Le Pallet, Loire-Atlantique, France

We have been following the wines of Marion Pescheux and Manuel Landron for the last couple of years. Due to a few tricky vintages they haven’t had any wine available for us until now.

Manuel Landron is the son of Jo Landron (and cousin of Benoit). His dad travels a lot to promote his wines. However, Manu wants to keep things simple and has a very hands on approach in the vineyard.

Both Marion and Manu were born in Muscadet and have been around vineyards their whole lives. After a long time away working for winemakers in New Zealand (Felton Road Winery) and Chile (Domaine Clos Ouvert), they settled in 2013 in the village of le Pallet and work now with three grape varieties: Melon de Bourgogne (8 ha), Folle Blanche (0,68 ha) at la Haye-Fouassière, and Gamay (0,60 ha). The wines are all vinified by parcel with the aim of showing off the varied volcanic terroir of the region.

Marion and Manu are working organically and in line with the lunar calendar, in total respect of the soils and the nature.

Tell us about your 2018 harvest: What were your challenges?
2018 was really hard because we had to fight a lot against mildew. But we did it: ‘Marion & Manu 1 - Mildew 0'. In the cellar however the vinification was hard. The fermentation was very slow, with not enough acidity in the juice and large yields 48 hectolitres / hectare: ‘Wine 1 - Marion and Manu 0’

What went particularly well?
We were very happy with the wine in the end! There was also a good yield compared to previous vintages.

What do you anticipate for the 2019 harvest?
A late harvest, the grapes are just starting out right now. Plus, we are moving cellar during the summer.

What are the biggest changes you've seen in winemaking since you got started?
We filter our wine less. In 2016/17 we had no filtration at all. Also, we are finding less and less acidity in the juice every year. We are questioning ourselves constantly with, for example, the harvest date. The more you wait, the sweeter the wine gets, so you need to be careful to get the acidity levels right.

What do you like most/ least about your job?
We love pruning, because it’s quiet and relaxing, you are alone in the vineyard. On the other hand we like the harvest time too, because it's social with a lot of people around and there are lots of festivities.

What can you tell us about your future plans?
We want to get more into polyculture. We now have 5 beehives and would like to get some cows and sheep, too. We are also going to plant about 50 apple and pear trees around the vines.