2021 Sancerre Blanc, Les Lots, Château la Rabotine, Alban Roblin, Loire

Domaine Roblin

While you might not think it from his quiet and measured manner, Alban Roblin is one of the rising stars of Sancerre. Since 2010, he has been managing the family domaine in the small village of Sury-en-Vaux, just half a dozen kilometres from Sancerre. The domaine comprises 12 hectares, of which 10 are planted to Sauvignon Blanc and the remaining two to Pinot Noir – the source of Alban’s excellent but very small-production Sancerre Rouge. Alban bought back the Chateau La Rabotine, a property that used to be in the family and now forms part of the domaine’s identity.

The vineyards are almost all located in Sury-en-Vaux and neighbouring Maimbray, where the soil type is around 80% terres blanches. These chalky clay soils suffer less from excessive heat or rain than other areas and have proven to be particularly successful in the unpredictable weather conditions brought about by climate change. The remaining 20% of his vines are planted on caillottes soils rich in small limestone pebbles, providing finesse and elegance. In the vineyard, Alban works to a policy of minimal intervention, ploughing soils or allowing grass to grow between rows rather than using herbicides. In 2021, he began the process of organic certification.

The winemaking is as fastidious and careful in the cellar as the man himself. Depending on the cuveé, Alban carries out fermentation and lees ageing in either neutral stainless steel tanks or carefully selected barrels made from locally grown oak. The fermentation temperature is carefully managed to ensure purity and fruit expression, while a mix of indigenous and selected neutral yeasts is used depending on the circumstances. Alban strongly advocates lees ageing, arguing that he wants to give weight, body, and power to his wines to differentiate them from mass-produced and early-bottled Sancerre.

Sancerre

Sancerre is a famous white Sauvignon Blanc appellation located on the left bank of the Loire, across from Pouilly-Fumé.

While Pouilly-Fumé's vineyards are tightly clustered and homogeneous, Sancerre's 14 communes (including the great villages of Chavignol, Bué, Verdigny, Amigny and Ménétréol) are widely dispersed, covering nearly 3,000 hectares over vertiginous valleys at up to 350 metres above sea level, and three distinct soil types: silex, a white flint found around Sancerre and Ménétréol in particular, giving perfume and a fine structure; terres blanches, a calcareous clay soil that whitens as it dries (widely distributed), delivering a full, fruity richness; and caillottes, a Portlandian soil brimming with large limestones imparting both power and verve – as found in Sancerre, Chavignol and Bué.

A fourth soil type, griottes, tightly-packed with small limestones, has also been identified – as found near the village of Vosges. Kimmeridgean clay crops up less consistently than in Pouilly-Fumé and since most Sancerre, bar the single-vineyard wines, are a blend of soils the result is a richer, fuller and fleshier Sauvignon Blanc.

As with Pouilly-Fumé, an increasing number of (single-vineyard) wines are being raised in French oak, mostly 500-litre and demi-muids; little surprise in light of naturally higher alcohol levels due to global warming. Sancerre Rouge is also made from Pinot Noir, the quality of which is often compromised by bleeding some of the juice to make rosé – Vincent Pinard is a master nonetheless.

Recommended producers: François Cotat, André Dezat, David Sautereau

Top vineyards include: Les Monts Damnés, La Grande Côte, Le Cul de Beaujeu, Grand (and Petit) Chemarin, Chêne Marchand

Sauvignon Blanc

An important white grape in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley that has now found fame in New Zealand and now Chile. It thrives on the gravelly soils of Bordeaux and is blended with Sémillon to produce fresh, dry, crisp  Bordeaux Blancs, as well as more prestigious Cru Classé White Graves.

It is also blended with Sémillon, though in lower proportions, to produce the great sweet wines of Sauternes. It performs well in the Loire Valley and particularly on the well-drained chalky soils found in Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, where it produces bone dry, highly aromatic, racy wines, with grassy and sometimes smoky, gunflint-like nuances.

In New Zealand, Cloudy Bay in the 1980s began producing stunning Sauvignon Blanc wines with extraordinarily intense nettly, gooseberry, and asparagus fruit, that set Marlborough firmly on the world wine map. Today many producers are rivalling Cloudy Bay in terms of quality and Sauvignon Blanc is now New Zealand`s trademark grape.

It is now grown very successfully in Chile producing wines that are almost halfway between the Loire and New Zealand in terms of fruit character. After several false starts, many South African producers are now producing very good quality, rounded fruit-driven Sauvignon Blancs.