THE problem with Muscadet is that it can be horrid. Even the people who make it know this, and those who craft a totally different, mouth-wateringly tempting kind of Muscadet gnash their teeth in frustration.

I dropped in on two of them a fortnight ago, Jean-Jacques and Rémi Bonnet, at their organic vineyard, the Domaine Bonnet-Huteau.

Their wines are pretty wonderful, but it can be a tough job to convince the public that it’s worth paying over twice as much for them as for a bottle of the penny dreadful sort.

Their 2014 La Tarcière available, for example, costs £9.75 from www.vintageroots.co.uk. It is made largely from the fruit of their younger vines, but is bracingly fresh, with the aroma of freshly-cut green apple, yet despite its racy acidity, opens out impressively to fill the mouth with flavour.

A more complex wine from one of the three or four very distinct soil types on their estate, this from acid soils derived from igneous and metamorphic rocks, La Gabrinière is richer and more full bodied, with an almost salty tang.

It is very impressive and against the common wisdom that Muscadet is a wine to quaff when it’s young and fresh, it’s age-worthy too (£11.33 from www.festivalwines.co.uk). Both wines are amazingly good with seafood, as all good Muscadet should be.

None of the big supermarkets take Muscadet seriously. Low prices seem to matter more than quality, but yet again, the wonderful Wine Society arrives over the horizon with a clutch of fine single estate wines, all at more than reasonable prices.

They even have a magnum of the vibrantly fruity Domaine du Grand Mouton at £24, fine if you’re expecting a crowd.

The Wine Society’s own label Muscadet 2014 is all that a good Muscadet should be, and at £6.50 is a bit of a steal, the same price as its Domaine des Ratelles 2013, which is a little more creamy, but a shade less saltily bracing.

Château L’Oiselinière 2013 (£7.50) is slightly less salty, but has a lovely, creamy texture, while Château de Chasseloir, Cuvée Ceps Cententaire 2012 (£8.75) is more concentrated, with creamy green fruit flavours: greengage as well as Granny Smiths.

‘Ceps Centenaire’ means that the vines are 100 years old – not always a sign of quality, but here they clearly still produce highly flavourful juice.

Le Clos du Château L’Oiselinière 2009 (£10.95) is not the best and most expensive wine, just because it’s been aged a bit, but because it has a richness and fullness that is rare in Muscadet, without losing its vital zesty acidic backbone, it’s a very good wine and passed the test of fish and chips with aplomb.

Majestic, meanwhile, has three wines, by far the most interesting of which is Le Pallet 2012 (£9.99 as part of a mixed half dozen).

And Waitrose scrapes in with Champteloup Muscadet, the real deal if not quite as characterful as the best, on offer until May 15 at £5.99.