2020 Alphonse Mellot Sancerre Edmond, Loire Valley

“Partially fermented in barrel and partially in wooden tanks, this is not Sauvignon as you know it - it is a wine led by texture not aromatics. Expect a succulent and silky Sancerre that is rich and concentrated. There's a cloud of nectarine fruit that blossoms in the mouth before concluding with an almost tannic structure.” 

93 points, Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous

Biodynamic. Like the Dix-Neuf, Edmond is harvested by hand from old vines in the Moussière vineyard. Here, the wine comes from a range of 50- to 90-year-old vines on the southerly slope of the site where the Saint-Doulchard marls give way to a blanket of weathered limestone rocks locally called calcaires à astartes.

Cropped even lower than the Dix-Neuf, Edmond’s fermentation and maturation took place in 600-litre barrels, with a portion raised in a 2,000-litre wooden egg-shaped Taransaud Ovum (the only other Ovum we have encountered in the Loire is across the river, chez Dagueneau). It was aged on fine lees for 10 to 14 months.

As if carved from the stones themselves, this is a profound, structured white wine with intense depth of creamy, silk-lined citrus and white peach underscored by savoury, earth flavours of aniseed, menthol, liquorice and spices. It has layers, aromatic complexity, grip, precision, profound minerality and striking length. These wines can live 20 to 30 years easily and typically only start to peak after five to 10 years. Once again, each sip extends the boundaries of what we understand Sauvignon (and Sancerre) to be capable of. Give it at least a couple more years if you can.