2022 Domaine Pastou Sancerre Vieilles Vignes

2022 Domaine Pastou Sancerre Vieilles Vignes

2022 Domaine Pastou Sancerre Vieilles Vignes From the highest, older-vine vineyards in Sury, northwest of Sancerre. This is Sauvignon Blanc in its purest form: aromas of chalk and lemon blossoms, a mouthful of freshly squeezed citrus and a sea-salty, tangy finish.

Marked by its charming hilltop village in the easternmost territory of the Loire, Sancerre is famous for its racy, vivacious, citrus-dominant Sauvignon blanc. Its enormous popularity in 1970s French bistros led to its success as the go-to restaurant white around the globe in the 1980s.

While the region claims a continental climate, noted for short, hot summers and long, cold winters, variations in topography—rolling hills and steep slopes from about 600 to 1,300 feet in elevation—with great soil variations, contribute the variations in character in Sancerre Sauvignon blancs.

In the western part of the appellation, clay and limestone soils with Kimmeridgean marne, especially in Chavignol, produce powerful wines. Moving closer to the actual town of Sancerre, soils are gravel and limestone, producing especially delicate wines. Flint (silex) soils close to the village produce particularly perfumed and age-worthy wines.

Domaine Pastou is located in the commune of Sury-en-Vaux, a sleepy town located amidst the rolling hills in the Northern section of the Sancerre appellation. Jean-Marc Pastou has been making wine under his own label since the early 1980’s, planting his first vines (now his oldest), in that same year.