Winemaker Notes
Belle Dame is cherished for its pure flint soils, which gives Pinot Noir here a refinement and a spice that is captivating. Aromas of black cherries, blackberries, light pepper. Fresh yet full-bodied, displaying mineral notes mixed with profound berry flavors.
An ideal pairing to plates such as grilled lamb, beef, or aged French cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Vacheron's red 2017 Sancerre Belle Dame opens remarkably aromatic and ripe, with stewed or baked fruit aromas on the nose, tending toward plums rather than berries and a touch of caramel. With more aeration, the wine gets more precise, more flinty and piquant and reveals fresh cherry and potted strawberry aromas. Silky on the palate opening, this is a full-bodied, rich intense and persistent Pinot Noir with impressive concentration, freshness and finesse. What irritates me a bit: I would even accept it in a German Pinot Noir tasting not because of the oaky flavors (which I don't pick up here excessively) but due to the freshness, fruit profile and rather grippy finish. Fürst's Centgrafenberg comes to my mind, and that's meant as a compliment. Burgundy is widening its wings.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
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.