Winemaker Notes
Ripe peach & pear and sultry lusciousness – named after a Roman road that divides the vineyard (flint atop limestone).
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From the edge of the Sancerre fault, with flint on the surface and marly limestone below, the 2019 Sancerre Les Romains offers a very clear, pure and refined nose with bright and flinty-scented fruit aromas and baffling depth, finesse and complexity. On the palate, this is a dense and rich but pure, mineral and structured Sancerre with a long and intense finish that manages its richness impressively well with sensations of melting stones and tannins. There are lots of layers on the palate, and the wine is still young but doubtlessly very attractive for texture with finesse lovers. The finish is very long and complex, but most of all, it is stimulatingly salty. A great vin de terroir. 13.5% stated alcohol. Diam cork. Tasted in January 2022. Best after 2023.
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Wine Enthusiast
The name provides a reminder that Julius Caesar left a fort on the hill of Sancerre. This wine is rich. A mineral edge from the flint soil contrasts with the white-peach flavors and powerful intensity. Drink from 2023. Organic and biodynamic.
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Wine Spectator
Perfumed and floral, with white peach, yellow apple and persimmon layered with white tea, jasmine and potpourri. Supple and gentle-edged on the palate, this is elegant, with a cleansing wave of salty mineral and a hint of white pepper on the finish.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
Marked by its charming hilltop village in the easternmost territory of the Loire, Sancerre is famous for its racy, vivacious, citrus-dominant Sauvignon blanc. Its enormous popularity in 1970s French bistros led to its success as the go-to restaurant white around the globe in the 1980s.
While the region claims a continental climate, noted for short, hot summers and long, cold winters, variations in topography—rolling hills and steep slopes from about 600 to 1,300 feet in elevation—with great soil variations, contribute the variations in character in Sancerre Sauvignon blancs.
In the western part of the appellation, clay and limestone soils with Kimmeridgean marne, especially in Chavignol, produce powerful wines. Moving closer to the actual town of Sancerre, soils are gravel and limestone, producing especially delicate wines. Flint (silex) soils close to the village produce particularly perfumed and age-worthy wines.
About ten percent of the wines claiming the Sancerre appellation name are fresh and light red wines made from Pinot noir and to a lesser extent, rosés. While not typically exported in large amounts, they are well-made and attract a loyal French following.