Pepières is rightly considered among the best producers of Muscadet (aka Melon de Bourgogne) sur Lie with some of the best vineyard holdings as well. Rather than blend everything together, they make seven different cuvées from various lieu-dit as well as an entry level wine from throughout their holdings. Briords Vieilles Vignes is a small 3 hectare plot of 60-70 year old vines, planted on certified biodynamic sandy granite soils with enough clay to slow down ripening, but with deep top soil which allows the wine to spend less time on the lees. All vineyard work including harvest is manual. The whole bunches are pressed very gently and the juice settled naturally in steel tank overnight. The must ferments spontaneously with indigenous yeasts and a tiny amount of sulfur. The wine is moved by gravity to underground cement tanks, where it ages on the lees for 7-8 months before bottling without filtration or any additional sulfur. The result is a dry, restrained, yet complex, light-bodied white with subtle lemon and stone fruit flavors, balanced acidity and pronounced minerality. This lively wine is the quintessential pairing for a seafood tower with oysters on the half shell, but it also pairs well with a goat cheese and tomato quiche or savory crêpes from Brittany, just to the north.