GOLD STANDARD SANCERRE BLANC

SANCERRE BLANC 2020 BY DOMAINE VACHERON

Sancerre Blanc 2020 by Domaine Vacheron is a vividly chiseled, bone dry mineral driven Sancerre which quite literally put Sauvignon Blanc, and the Loire valley on the map. It is to this day one of the greatest pairings with sunshine.

The Vacheron cousins, Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique, make the greatest expressions of this region for one simple reason, and that is texture. Their wines are bone dry, showcasing the limestone soaked soils of region, but have an additional layer of depth and complexity that makes their wines stand far above the rest.

The wines The Vacheron cousins produce have all the piercing minerality and precision that you dream of from Sancerre.

My cardinal rule is to buy the best producers entry level wines when looking for value, and you need look no further than Vacheron’s Sancerre Blanc 202X.

As with all great wines, Vacheron’s magic starts in the vineyards. Their epic south-facing slopes of old vines are spellbinding from the moment you lay eyes on them.

From these wise old vines that are farmed organically (INCREDIBLY RARE for Loire valley) the wines they produce have all the piercing minerality and precision that you dream of from Sancerre but are laden with hints of white and green stone fruit, honey and ginger that adds so much to this wine.

If this were from Burgundy or for that matter from Napa Valley this wine would cost three times as much as it does.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

“The gold standard of Sancerre starts with the Vacheron Family. A domaine that goes from strength to strength striving for amazing purity and definition.”
– Ian Cauble MS

The 47 ha family estate is surely one of the finest Sancerre producers.
– The Wine Advocate

SANCERRE BLANC 2020 BY DOMAINE VACHERON: CHARACTERISTICS

BODY /  STYLE / OAK / Medium-bodied / fresh and crisp, floral, fruity, mineral / Unoaked

SWEETNESS / Extra-Dry

CELLARING / Drink now or cellar

FOOD PAIRING / Breads, Cured Meat, Light Fish, Oysters, Soft Cheese, White Meat

TASTING NOTE / Sourced from 30 to 50 year old vines from hillside plots that are composed of chalk and silex soils. Textbook Sancerre with hints of grapefruit zest and gunflint on the nose. A dazzling lemon-lime profile on the palate with a hint of sea spray and steely texture.

A LITTLE HISTORY

The Vacherons are without question Sancerre’s leading winemaking clan. From the family’s pioneering work in identifying and exploiting the region’s top terroirs to their leading position in biodynamic viticulture today, there are few if any artisans in Sancerre as exacting or as respected.

Domaine Vacheron was established in 1900 and in recent years it has been brothers Denis and Jean-Louis Vacheron who have been in charge, but they have now handed the reins to the next generation, cousins Jean-Dominique and Jean-Laurent Vacheron.

As with most up-and-coming vignerons at family-run Domaines, the two have travelled to gain experience elsewhere, Jean-Dominique in Châteauneuf du Pape, and Jean-Laurent in Burgundy with Aubert de Villaine. It is the two cousins who have been the driving force behind converting the estate to biodynamics. Today the vineyard covers just over 46 hectares of the Sancerre appellation, of which 43 hectares are managed biodynamically, having been fully certified by BIODYVIN in 2005.

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