I had someone write me recently, complaining that my page on Muscadet says it is a region. Apparently they felt it was a grape which could be grown anywhere.

Here's my page on Muscadet -

http://www.wineintro.com/types/muscadet.html

The name of the grape is "Melon de Bourgogne". So there is no such thing as a Muscadet grape.

To me this is very similar to Chablis and Chardonnay. Chablis is a region in France. Chardonnay is the grape they grow there. If you get the wine from Chablis it is called a Chablis. But if you have a wine made from Chardonnay from Israel, it should be called Chardonnay (or heck, they could name it after the region in Israel if you wanted).

What do you think?

The problem arises because Appellation Muscadet Controllee and the sub-parts are regions named after a grape.

The Melon de Bourgogne is also known as the Muscadet de Bourgogne - so, yes Virginia, there is such a thing as the Muscadet grape.

I don't know that beyond the various regions prefaced "Muscat" that there are other AOCs named for grapes rather than geographic features.

I don't see how you can think of this as any more similar to Chablis and Chardonnay than it is to Cornas and Syrah which actually are similar in that both of those regions are named after towns.

That's interesting, everything I'm reading lists the grape simply as being

Melon de Bourgogne

Maybe that is its primary name and people started calling it Muscadet de Bourgogne because of its location? Sort of like calling ... hmmmm ... a pinot noir a burgundy noir?

"Maybe .... people started calling it Muscadet de Bourgogne because of its location?"

That's the thing Lisa, you still have it backwards. The only reason the AOC is called Muscadet is because that is where the grapes grow.

There is no town or county or 'departement' or river of Muscadet in which they grow the grapes.

The Bordeaux AOC is named after the city of Bordeaux, the Loire after the eponymous river. To the best of my knowledge, the only thing called Muscadet besides the various AOCs is the grape.

Hmmm I'll go back through my wine books and look into this some more! Thanks!

I've always thought Muscadet was a grape variety that is grown in the Loire. And later I learned that its synonym name was Melon de Bourgogne.

Its a long time since I had a Muscadet; used to have it quite often with fish but now have Sauvignon Blanc.

I don't think it is correct to say Muscadet is a geographical region.

I'm not sure a wine region has to have a name that 100% matches a town name, does it? Surely there are wine regions that have names that are separate from a local town name?

Hi!

Perhaps we can help you clear up the confusion. Muscadet is an archaic name for the grape Melon de Bourgogne. The name is no longer used to refer to grape, except when it is grown in the area of the Loire Valley next to the Atlantic oceans. The Muscadet region is quite unique in France in that there is no actually town named Muscadet - instead, the main city of the region is Nantes.

However, because Muscadet is an AOC, no region or grower of Melon de Bourgogne in Europe (or any other country that respects the laws governing the usage of AOC names) may put Muscadet on the label unless it respects the laws of the AOC (ie, it must be grown in the designated area).

For more information, you can check this website: http://www.loirevalleywine.com/home/?q=loirewines/wines/appellation/muscadet.

Please feel free to contact us with any further questions at info@loirevalleywine.com.

Thank you so much for posting that! This helps a great deal!