Sancerre

Sancerre (Sancerre) – a small wine region in Central France, in the Eastern part of the Loire Valley. Known for its fresh, aromatic white wines from Sauvignon Blanc.

It is known for excellent goat cheese, perfectly suitable to local wines.

The vineyards of Sancerre are spread around the city on a hill towering over the river Loire.

Classic Sancerre wine is white, with lively acidity and a tantalizing bouquet of gooseberry, green grass, nettle and become a byword minerality.

The character of the wine Sancerre

Sauvignon from Sancerre is not as straightforward and brash as it became the textbook extremes of this variety from New Zealand with their grass-a cat extravaganza (see the aromas of Sauvignon Blanc) or citrus Sauvignon from Chile.

A richer, more Mature samples – especially with the warmer Western slopes with limestone soils often exhibit a more fruity bouquet with notes of passion fruit and lemon peel.

The history of local wines

Before the surrounding area of Sancerre was better known lightweight red wines. And only after some time after the approval of the official appellation, in the second half of the 20th century it became firmly associated with the distinctive white wines from the Sauvignon. Today red here are made exclusively from Pinot Noir and is less than 20% of the annual release of the wine.

Before the devastating invasion of phylloxera on the vineyards in the 1860s, the Foundation plantings were red varieties: Gamay and Pinot Noir. Whites were in the minority, and it wasn’t a Sauvignon Blanc, it was the variety Chasselas (Chasselas).

When you have found a way to fight phylloxera epidemic in the form of the Scion vines on American roots, Sauvignon proved to be more adapted to such an operation than were white residents. So he became the dominant variety in the vineyards of Sancerre: the coincidence, without which the region might not have gained such a popularity today.

Chasselas is preserved in small quantities on the other side of the Loire around Pouilly-sur-Loire.

The influence of the terroir

Sancerre is located on the Eastern edge of the wine region of the Loire Valley, hundreds of miles from the vineyards of the Western part. In fact, it is closer to the Burgundy region Cote d’or than other key areas of the Loire – Anjou and Touraine. Just 50 miles away lies the Northern Burgundy region of Chablis, whose famous Kimmeridgian limestone soils are also characteristic of the terroirs of Sancerre.

In General, the soils of Sancerre – the pride of local winemakers. They can be clearly divided into three types: chalky, gravel-limestone and quartz (flint).

The latter is often credited with a role in the characteristic note pierre à fusil – “gun powder”, which is a hallmark of Sauvignon from this part of the Loire valley.

The aroma of the finely ground flint or “gun powder” – the card of white Sauvignon from the Eastern Loire

The aroma is so clearly seen in some of the local wines – especially from the Eastern vineyards close to the Loire – which according to one version, he gave the second name of Sauvignon Blanc Fumé (literally “white smoke”) and the nearest competitor Sancerre, a neighboring appellation to Pouilly fumé (Pouilly-Fume).

Approximately 2,800 hectares of vineyards dedicated to the production of wines of Sancerre. Almost twice more than at the time of establishment of the appellation in 1936.

The wine industry in the Loire Valley in the last decade has experienced serious economic pressure, which was caused by a combination of not the most successful vintages and notable competition from New world wines. But Sancerre moved it easier than other areas of the region, thanks to the strong reputation and style of its wines that taste of modern consumers. This appellation continues to be a kind of “king of the hill” in the region.

Source: portal WineSearcher