Goulaine is the northernmost of the Crus of Muscadet and is situated between the Loire and Sèvre. This region seems fairly large in most maps of the Crus of Muscadet, but this is misleading as this is a marshy region with vineyards planted on low-rising hills and outcroppings of bedrock. Due to this topography, Goulaine has some of the warmest vineyard sites in Muscadet and is harvested before any of the other Crus. While the primary soil of the Goulaine is schist, the most esteemed vineyards cluster around Butte de la Roche, an upwelling of a rare bedrock that forms in the upper mantle of the earth’s crust – Serpentinite. Goulaine at Lieubeau is the most generous of their Crus with a richness of fruit flavors that are more tropical and fleshy, with a minerality that emerges slowly with age.
