Melon de Bourgogne, Muscadet, France

We dare you to not love this platonic ideal of a salty Muscadet from one of the natural wine world’s most stalwart leaders. Fred Niger, and his project Domaine de L’Ecu, is one of the region’s trailblazers in natural winemaking; not only had L’Ecu been certified organic for 40 years and biodynamic for 20, they have also led the way for long ageing, terroir-specific muscadets the region is now famous for. All of Fred’s wines are hand-harvested, fermented with indigenous yeast, moved only by gravity and bottled with minimal sulphur. His ‘Classique’ bottling is meant to capture Muscadet at its most pretty, pristine, and well, classic. Younger estate parcels grown on silex and metamorphic rock are aged on the lees for 10-12 months gaining texture and textbook salinity. Lemon squeeze, salted green apple and bright acidity that hits you like a green juice shot. Pair with a ray of sunshine, a plate of calamari or grocery store goat cheese, suddenly elevated.