Winemaker Notes
Accompanied by oysters, a langoustine cassoulet or Crottin de Chavignol cheese, Satellite provides immediate pleasure and will gradually come to express its full complexity as the years pass.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Sancerre Satellite assembles the fruit from different lieux-dits and soil types of Chavignol and opens with clear, intense and well-concentrated fruit with herb notes on the bright yet deep and very elegant nose. Full-bodied and dense on the palate, with mild, perfectly interwoven acidity, a lingering phenolic grip and fine salinity, this is a perfectly matured Chavignon classic with substance and first hints of maturity. However, the wine is so stable, dense and firm that you can enjoy it for the next 5, maybe even 10 years. Tasted in January 2021.
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Wine Spectator
Bright and racy, with plenty of zing to the flint, white peach and gooseberry notes that glisten as they carry through to the lime-tinged finish. Drink now through 2021.
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.