Muscadet is certainly one of the great underrated wine regions of France. The key to understanding Marc Ollivier's is to understand the label. "Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine" refers to the region's best appellation, between the rivers Sevre and Maine, and "sur Lie" indicates the wine was left on its lees. In fact, Marc's Muscadet-sur-Lie has lees contact until the time of bottling, generally in late May. (This traditional way of making Muscadet has now, unfortunately, become a rarity as more winemakers rush to bottle their wines by early January.)
As Louis/Dressner, the importer, says on their website:
Ollivier takes his time to make his Muscadet. He hand harvests (a rarity in the region), uses natural yeasts, waits for the wine to finish fermentation, and bottles with a very light filtration. His Muscadet has a bright color; a slightly bubbly, round and supple mouthfeel with sound structure; and a clean and fruity finish.
The vineyards are in old vines (40+ years-old) with a particularly good exposition on a plateau overlooking the river Sèvre. All the vineyards are from original stock: Ollivier is the only grower in the Muscadet who does not have a single clonal selection in his vineyards. Ollivier also produces a very old vine cuvée of Muscadet from a single vineyard, the Clos des Briords, as well as a barrel-fermented and aged cuvée, the Clos Cormerais.
For more information, please visit http://www.louisdressner.com/.
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