I can’t separate summer from memories of road trips through France in years gone by, and if you’re doing that this year, you’ll no doubt pick up some wine along the way at a much cheaper price than you’ll pay back home. Even so, French wine can still offer amazingly good value here in the UK, particularly if you concentrate on lesser known and unfashionable appellations.
Muscadet is a good case in point. Yes, it’s usually eclipsed by the slightly cheaper and jauntier picpoul de pinet, but picpoul doesn’t quite have muscadet’s minerality and finesse. And, yes, if you want a wine to go with seafood, these days many of us will probably opt for albariño, but muscadet does the job just as well, and for less than a tenner, which much albariño struggles to achieve. So, if you haven’t tried muscadet for a while, it’s worth revisiting.
