Winemaker Notes
Les Boucauds is sourced from several plots near the cellar of Claude Riffault. These sites account for about 50% of the Sauvignon Blanc planted on the estate. They are on Terres Blanches soils – marls and clays over Kimmeridgian limestone
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Sancerre Les Boucauds is sourced 22- to 50-year-old southeast-facing vines on terres blanches and Kimmeridgian marl soils at 220 to 235 meters in altitude. It offers a bright, intense and slightly flinty bouquet of ripe stone fruit and pear aromas intertwined with delicate flint stone notes. Full-bodied, fresh and elegant on the palate, this is an intense, quite rich and powerful, textured, piquant and finely salty Sancerre with a long, elegant and quite powerful but balanced finish. The finish reveals a good grip and a dash of fresh lemon and apple juice yet still lacks the coolish precision and definition I appreciate so much in other terroir wines from Stéphane Riffault, but this might be a question of time rather than of the wine itself. The wine was aged on its lees for 10 months in oak and bottled in July last year. You don't really feel the 14% alcohol, thanks to the fine mineral and vital texture. Tasted in February 2021. Rating: 91+
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.