Sancerre, “Prestige”, Sylvain Bailly

This wine is produced in only excellent vintages and drawn from parcels with the oldest vines (35-45 years old) on the steepest, chalkiest hillsides around the village of Bué. The upper hillside wine is then blended with a small amount of old vine juice from the lower lying, clay and limestone vineyards. The former provides minerality, grace and high-toned expression of the Sauvignon grape. The latter provides richness and body to complete this extraordinary bottling. The wine is aged on its fine lees for over a year in stainless steel vats (95%) and one oak barrel (5%) before bottling after the harvest of the subsequent vintage. It is released a year after bottling which adds complexity and roundness as well as bringing up the fresh fruit aromas.

The nose shows classic mineral notes rounded out with some exotic fruit and citrus. In the mouth it is huge and quite concentrated with lots of minerals and acidity to balance it out.