Winemaker Notes
The intense scents mingle with harmony; minerality alternates with a vanilla under currant with maturing citrus notes that can also be detected on the palate. The powerful wood starts to melt in a round and lively mouth. Superb balance.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Partially vinified in barriques, the 2018 Sancerre blanc "Le Grand Roc" Terroir de Silex opens with a clear and discreet yet actually intense and substantial nose of ripe, white fruits, blackcurrant, lush peaches, white blossoms, brioche and iodine. Full-bodied, fresh and with mineral vitality on the palate, this is an intense, mouth-filling and sustainable Sancerre that indicates well-dosed oak management and an excellent silex terroir. The wine is powerful and complex and reveals a seriously firm structure with stimulating phenolics. The 2018 still appears as a young and vivacious, stimulating Sancerre, and it's less massive or rich than so many of its peers. This is an excellent wine indeed. 13.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Rating: 90+
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.