Sancerre

The Loire is a major river system that stretches from its sources deep in central France near the city of Lyon, north and then westward, reaching the Atlantic at Nantes. The region is broadly divided into 4 zones: the Pays Nantais to the west (think largely Muscadet); Anjou-Saumeur just upstream, home of Anjou, Saumeur, Coteaux du Layin and Quarts de Chaume (Chenin Blanc country); the Touraine region towards the center, a mix of Chenin, Cab Franc and Sauv Blanc appellations; and to the east, well upstream, a series of small, Sauv Blanc based appellations, with Pinot Noir as the primary red variety. This is where you’ll find Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume, Menetou-Salon and several other small appellations.

Located in the eastern side of the Loire region, Sancerre itself is a hilltop village positioned above the Cher river for protection from the Vikings who regularly raided up the Loire in the 9th and 10th centuries. The appellation (sort of a dusky teal on the map above) is nestled on the western side of the upper Loire as it makes its great northward sweep, above the headwaters of the Cher, Sauldre and Auron tributaries.

White Sancerre was one of the original AOCs awarded in 1936, with the same area being designated for red wines in 1959. The AOC area has expanded fourfold over the years, most recently in 1998.

The soils are largely limestone of Cretaceous age. Sancerre sits on the same ridge of pure white chalks that run from the cliffs of Dover across the channel to the Cote des Blancs and Cote de Sezanne in Champagne, down to Chablis, and thence to Sancerre, the upturned edges of the great Paris Basin.

A series of small valleys cut through the chalk, each with their own soils and microclimate and terroir. In the east are the "flints" that make minerally, long-lived wines. Between the town and Verdigny the soil consists of marl and gravel – "les caillottes" – producing fruity, well balanced wines. To the southwest, away from the river towards Menetou-Salon, the chalky "terres blanches" (white ground) produce weightier wines. Most of the Sauvignon Blancs are unoaked.

Domaine raimbault-pineau

Domaine Raimbault-Pineau dates its origins to Denis Raimbault, a vigneron in the village of Seury-en-Vaux born in 1610. He was succeeded by Henry Raimbault, then Francois l‘Aine Rambault, then Pierre-Alexandre, Pierre, another Pierre-Alexandre, Alexandre, Etienne-Alexandre, then Francois-Etienne, Lucien, Maurice, Jean-Marie, his son (another Lucien) currently leading the domain with his wife Sonia, and since 1994 their daughter Louison Raimbault, the 14th generation of Raimbaults over 4 centuries to manage the family vineyards.

The family produces wines from holdings in Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume and the Coteaux Giennois under the Rambault-Pineau domain name, and a series of single vineyard wines under the Domain Lucien Raimbault label. Lucien also purchases select lots of fruit from neighbors to produce hes negociant wine, made by him in the domain cellars to the same exacting standards.

The wine

Sancerre “Fleurs de Sancerre” Lucien Raimbault. This is Lucien’s negoce side project, a ripe, elegant and precise Sancerre vinified and eleve in stainless steel. Notes of lemon, spring flowers and a touch of minerality in the finish makes this a superb example of the type of Sancerre produced on the richer, marl soils of the tiny valley in which Sury sits.

A visit to the domain is a treat- it’s the only domain where the owners will take you aloft in their hot air balloon and invite you to taste the wines while aloft high above the vineyards, viewing the whole region while floating above it.

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