This powerful wine is both rich and fruity. The flint soil of the vineyard gives a mineral edge to crisp white fruits that are finished with citrus flavors and a still-youthful tang. Drink the wine from 2021. Organic and biodynamic.
From a 50-year-old, south- and west-facing vineyard where Jurassic limestone meets Eocene silex, the 2018 Sancerre Les Romains opens with dried white fruit and iodine aromas on the intense and concentrated nose. Very elegant, salty and complex on the palate, this is a powerful and full-bodied yet finely structured and elegant Sancerre with a long and promising finish. The wine is clearly a 2018 representative but has a long life ahead. Impressive though more warm rather than cool. Tasted in February 2021.
A wonderful cloud of silken fruit on the palate draws you in then spits you out at the end in an unexpected, flint-derived punch of a finish. Its power and length, redolent of floral and lemon pith, are impressive - as are all Vacheron's wines, to be honest.
The 2018 Sancerre Blanc Les Romains offers lovely textural depth and fine balance. Lemon confit, marzipan, spice and floral notes add that extra bit of pliancy and resonance that gives the wine its soft curves and open-knit personality. Best of all, the 2018 will drink well right out of the gate.
Technical Details
BlendSauvignon Blanc
WinemakerJean-Dominique Vacheron
CountryFrance
RegionLoire Valley
AppellationSancerre
VineyardLes Romains
Farming MethodBiodynamic
Alcohol13%
Shop All Wines Domaine Vacheron Sancerre Les Romains 2018
Domaine Vacheron Sancerre Les Romains 2018
Sauvignon Blanc | France
WE94, WA94, D94, VN93
$80.00
$54.95 | 750mL
SOLD OUT
31% off retail!
Too late, we are SOLD OUT!
If you know Sancerre, you KNOW Vacheron. And if for some reason you don’t...you need to get some to experience this brilliance. Great-grandfather Maurice Vacheron tended a few vines back when Sancerre was but a stop on a village road. Today, Sancerre and Vacheron in particular are hotter than ever. Their Burgundian approach to vinifying based on soil type, along with impeccable organic and biodynamic farming techniques, lead to some of the most exciting whites in the region, and in the world, for that matter.
This south-facing vineyard just killed it in '18! ‘Les Romains’ was one of the domaine’s first single-vineyard bottlings (the first vintage was 1997). Pure flint (silex) soils, rich in fossilized material; such soils are believed to contribute a mineral-inspired “smokiness” to the wine. Jean-Dominique once joked with me that his Silex is thicker than Dagueneau’s, where in some parts of the vineyard, the silex is more than six feet deep! Vine age is 50+ years, hand-harvested, fermented on indigenous yeasts, and raised in large neutral French oak vats, and then bottled unfiltered. Biodynamic farming helps highlight the terroir and singularity of the vineyards, tended today by the incredibly talented Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique Vacheron.
We’re afraid to say much more as we always sell out of this electrically-charged, incredibly complex gem -- a wine to cellar and enjoy for special occasions...while it lasts! Don’t forget free shipping on 3!
PAIRING IDEAS: Goat cheese is the classic. But a must-try is a simple, hedonistic crab cake (buy lump crab meat online or at your local seafood shop). Our relatives in Maryland (shout out to Donna!) make a brilliant one
-- mega-yum.
MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: We love Sancerre for its “stoniness” so why not crank the The Stones? Greatest Hits...whatever Pandora throws together for you...can’t go wrong!
About the Producer
The Vacherons are without question Sancerre's leading winemaking clan. From the family's pioneering work in identifying and exploiting the region's top terroirs to their leading position in biodynamic viticulture today, few artisans in Sancerre as exacting or as respected. Great-grandfather Maurice Vacheron tended a few vines back when Sancerre was but a stop on a village road. His son, Jean, was the first of the family to specialize in producing wine, paying particular attention to the influence of terroir on Sauvignon Blanc. Jean's sons, Denis and Jean-Louis, solidified the Vacheron name in Sancerre, showcasing the family's talent with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. Today, Denis' son, Jean-Laurent, and Jean-Louis' son, Jean-Dominique, have taken the estate to a whole new level of quality, championing biodynamic viticulture and selecting singular vineyard parcels that the family has observed for generations (and planted with their own hands) to bottle as single-vineyard wines, to showcase the heights that Sancerre can reach.
