2016 Alphonse Mellot Sancerre Cuvée Edmond, Loire Valley

Biodynamic and hand harvested, Cuvée Edmond is the antithesis of modern 'textbook' Sancerre. It is drawn from some of the oldest vines in the La Moussière vineyard; south-facing vines between 45 and 87 years of age. Here the Saint-Doulchard marls have given way to a blanket of stones or caillottes (weathered limestone called calcaires à Astartes). Edmond's fermentation and élevage mostly take place in 600-litre barrels, with a portion now raised in one of Taransaud's 2,000-litre egg-shaped casks, the kind that can be seen at Dagueneau (called ‘Ovum’). In total, the wine is aged on fine lees for 10-14 months. The final result described in Mellot's own words is “...a virile Sancerre.” As if carved from the stones themselves, it delivers everything you could ask of a profound white wine from limestone soils: depth, texture, aromatic complexity, structure, substance, precision, profound minerality and age-worthiness (these can live 20-30 years and typically start to peak only after 5-10 years). In short, this a truly unique wine of great class that extends, with each sip, the boundaries of what we understand Sauvignon (and Sancerre) to be capable of delivering.

The flagship cuvée, in my mind anyway. From the same Kimmeridgian terroir as La Moussière, of course, but from a small and select parcel of older vines, aged between 80 and 100 years. Vinified in oak, as always, and this is a sample taken from cuve where this wine currently rests, awaiting bottling. A wonderfully expressive style on the nose, with the scents of musky perfumed limestone, rubbed with citrus oils. It feels heady, with a wonderfully intense and pure palate, broad, supple and sinewy, but with such surging energy and citrus, orange-pith confidence. It feels complete and if any wines here remind me of the work of a certain vigneron from Pouilly-Fumé it is this one. It is bright with fabulous acidity. Beautifully long, too. This is a superb example of the Edmond cuvée.