A French pottery-fermented Chardonnay

I had previously blogged about wines fermented in qveri (traditional pottery vessels) from Georgia, encountering them initially in the 2011 Wine Fair and then subsequently in two years later. I had not however tasted similar wines from other countries till now. This is a Chardonnay from the Muscadet area which has been fermented in clay amphorae, and is sometimes referred to as an orange wine. The colour itself recalls another Georgian qveri fermented wine, this time using a grape called Kisi.

This is one of those "limited production" wines, the bottle says 450 bottles (I suppose it will be just one amphorae, seeing that a Bordeaux barrique of 225L already holds 300 bottles). This Faust Cuvee MMXIII was a slightly cloudy pink orange with a minerally honeyed sweetmeat nose. The palate started off with a hint of sweetness going onto an acid slightly astringent palate, supported by an acid backbone.