Muscadet at its most intellectually stimulating. Château Thébaud is one of the newly minted Cru Communaux of Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine, and Domaine de la Pépière's bottling pulls from old vines rooted in the distinctive granite de Thébaud soils, threaded with veins of metamorphic gneiss. Marc Ollivier set the benchmark for serious Muscadet over three decades here (he retired after the 2019 vintage); the reins now sit with Rémi Branger and Gwénaëlle Croix, who farm biodynamically and press directly with extended lees aging. The 2022 is tense and bright, beautifully defined, built to age like a fine Chablis but with more storm and smoke. Open it tonight or stash it for a decade.