Beginning in 2005, Marc Ollivier has produced this cuvée from a small parcel of 50 to 110 year-old vines within the Pepiere vineyard. Originally called "Granite de Clisson" after the unique bedrock in the vineyard, Marc has changed the name to "Clisson" to agree with the new INAO Cru Communal classification. The granite is covered with gravel and clay with large stones, ensuring good drainage and deep penetration by the roots into the fissures in the bedrock, bringing the mineral elements indispensable to this wine. This is one of the great wines of the entire Loire Valley !
Marc Ollivier of Domaine de la Pépière, from the appellation of Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, is one of the great vignerons of the Loire Valley. Ollivier's reputation comes from the vibrancy and density of his wines which reflect their terroir, which for most of his vineyards is granite, one of the less common terroirs for Muscadet, accounting for only 5% of the appellation. He has 28 hectares of vines; about 8 hectares lie on the granite of Clisson in the more southerly part of the appellation, another 12 hectares further north, on the granite of Château Thébaud; both of which contain veins of metamorphic gneiss with amphibolite stones.
It is noteworthy that Ollivier's vineyards are genetically rich as there are no clones in Ollivier's vineyards, which are increasingly tended using organic methods. The grapes are harvested by hand, with a pressing straight after harvest and no pellicular maceration. Fermentation occurs using only naturally occurring yeasts (and no products at all to aid or adjust the vinification) which is nearly exclusively in stainless steel where the wine stays until bottling, for months or up to three years as Ollivier deems necessary. The wines are then bottled with minimal addition of sulphur dioxide and the lightest of filtrations.