Saulétas Sancerre AOC 2019 Sébastien Riffault

Sébastien Riffault's Sancerre Blanc Saulétas comes from a parcel on Kimmeridgian soils, those marly-limestone soils rich in marine fossils that in the wine world are mainly associated with Burgundy and Chablis, but which in Sancerre give Sauvignon Blanc a fineness and minerality of rare balance. The name means "sunny" in Lithuanian, and reflects the character of this wine: brighter and more expansive than the other cuvées of the domaine, but no less profound for it.

As always at Riffault, the 50-year-old vines are harvested late, with about 50% of the grapes affected by botrytis: grapes at full physiological ripeness, overripe, which bring opulence and complexity without losing the mineral tension of the Kimmeridgian. A wine that, according to Sébastien, reaches its peak after seven, eight years in the cellar, when Mediterranean character, minerality, and the substance of botrytis integrate into something extraordinarily cohesive.