Ah Sancerre. Just the name evokes plush, restrained harmony in the bottle where dominant herb notes mingle effortlessly with some spice and some fruit. These are elegant wines without being forceful. This is your best friend who you can just be yourself with and almost always rely on for a good laugh and a smile. With a salmon dish or an appetizer of chevre on crostini, why look anywhere else than Sancerre as the perfect companion?
The 2010 vintage called “Origin” from the young, exciting Loire Valley winemaker Matthias Roblin and his brother Emile, the fourth generation of Roblins making wine in Sancerre, exemplifies the grassy-kiwi balance Sancerre can be so good at achieving. There isn’t a drop of oak in sight. There’s none of that stinging acidity that can plague some Sauvignon Blanc. There’s also none of that pale, weak structure that has been a hallmark recently of underachieving Sancerre.
The Roblin’s vines in Sancerre, one of the furthest east appellations in the Loire Valley, are grown in Maimbray and Sury-en-Vaux, in the northern part of the appellation. The limestone based soil with the reliably cool climate provides one of the world’s greatest Sauvignon Blanc. You even get hints of slate to the balanced wine, possibly even a little rosemary in the aroma.
It’s such a calm, tranquil wine, with so much lively energy too. Thanksgiving is a week away…here’s one bottle certainly to keep an eye on. Then again, when is it not time to open up a tour de force Sancerre? That’s certainly what you have here from the Roblin brothers.
Trev's Bistro 