Exceptionally poor value for money.

It's dry enough but there's no texture here. It's like water. £18 should buy you a wine with a much nicer mouthfeel. The flavour is boring too. There's some fruit and a hint of flint on the end but no chalk.

There's nothing here that you can't buy for a lot less. It's like the Sancerre equivalent of an £8 supermarket Chablis. Obviously Chablis but not great and not worth the money

Not happy..

Makes you mad, dun'nit ! Yep, I could have been pissed-off as well.

I believe half the clue to the problem FOR YOU with this wine is 2010.

Friends of mine who live in north west France didn't speak of a fine and glorious end to the Autumn last year. We all know that climate and too much rainfall has a massive effect, even with old vines and vineyards.

So - what ever the marketing men for the producers want you to hear ! Base your outlay / budgets on your own invetigation of a number of other factors that could affect concentration and interest. Sorry - sucking eggs again.

Were there no '09s to be bought ?

Mel said, Just a hint of lees on the nose. Tart, intense and nervy. Lovely. * After drinking the Calvet SB
But what would she have said after drinking the 09 vintage. Or back in 2007, after drinking the 05 vintage when there had been a drought for months on end ?

Is there any of that wine left for today. The wine was closed and tight ?

_________________
Duncan

Ouch !

McQuirkier top 50 whites out this morning.

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Four wheels move the body - 2 wheels move the soul.

According to V Moore in todays Telegraph -

This is a very compact, tightly coiled and complex wine, made from 25-year-old vines, half of which are on limestone and half of which are on flint soil. It’s the flint – or silex – that gives sancerre its gentle gunflint characteristic.


£18.79 is a lot to pay for a no-name SB.

I was in Sancerre week before last and I thought the wines were all overpriced.

At Henri Bourgeois in Chavignol they were boasting that one of their SBs had just won 'the worlds best SB' in some competition. It was from Clos Henri, their NZ estate.

*This is a very compact, tightly coiled and complex wine, made from 25-year-old vines,

Vineyard planted in 1985 - No big deal. Young vines then !

Given any / all factual content of that * statement - It ain't gonna taste very different from any well made sancerre.

Thanks for the input Mr P, Was there a behind the scenes conclusion from those folks tasting current release wines in Sancerre ?...Not the press officers

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Duncan

Generally all the wines tasted in the Loire were disappointing, rather pedestrian.

Red wines from Pinot were ho hum, Cab Franc's were rustic and grainy. Most disappointing because I'd tasted somelovely ripe velvety CFs last year at Wine Fair under the Loire CF promotion which had changed my mind about Loire CF, now I'm not so sure

Best wines generally was the fizz from Chenin, lovely soft silky fizzes. I, in the immortal words, filled my boots.

Thanks for the on site intelligence P. A bit of local knowledge is worth a damn-sight-more than a stack of news print.

Most disappointing because I'd tasted somelovely ripe velvety CFs last year at Wine Fair under the Loire CF promotion which had changed my mind about Loire CF, now I'm not so sure ..... Yep....One Swallow doesn't make a Summer ! But for the CFs as ya know - they generally perform better during the warm years and dry Autums '03 & '05 & '09 spring to mind.

'89 & '90 St Nick de Bourgueils were almost amazing - still in my mind We used to stay on the Ile de Re' in the early nineties and the supermarchés in the Vende'e were very well stocked with'em.

Cheers for that P.

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Duncan

Any recs for CB bubbles available in the high street??

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Four wheels move the body - 2 wheels move the soul.

Pontac,

I've come across about 30 published lists of top Sancerre/Loire sb producers and the only three names that appear in all lists are Bourgouis, Lucien Crochet and Vacheron.

Perhaps you can define no name Sancerre for me.

As for the Clos Henri MSB getting a best sb award. It's oaked and tastes nothing like MSB. It's like giving a banana of the year award to an apple.

Dunc, the wine is better on day two. Still way too watery to justify the money but there was chalk as well as flint.

Mr G.
At least a bit of consolation then - An expensive warning for you, and the rest of us are indebted - We owe you one mate - Big time

I'm gonna take a pop @ WR: Cos I like you

WR are making good money - I'd would interpolate the trade price for medium volume and consignment settlement would have been £9 + VAT pb. A ton - ton ten a 12 case DPd ! Mind U, sterling has been devalued twenty points against the euro.

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Duncan

When I said £18.79 is a lot to pay for a no-name SB I meant from a winery that wasn't famous and thus its prices were high because of that.

Cloudy Bay prices are also expensive but that is because of its name...

Thanks for heads up on Clos Henri - I don't recall having come across it but I don't like overoaked SB. I don't think the competition was looking for the best MSB - just the best SB -- but I cannot find any info about winning competitions on their website (which is well out of date) or blog.

They don't mention wood on the website, only stainless steel and lees aging, but that is for long ago vintages

The ones I bought most of were
Château L'Aulee Crémant de Loire Brut
and
Domaine des Liards
but I don't know about UK availability

Ha ! A result - Averys do the l'Aulee at £12

Chateau de l'Aulee is an award-winning sparkling wine made by Marielle Henrion, winemaker at Bollinger for 15 years. Made from 100 per cent estate-grown Chenin Blanc and made in the traditional method, it is an exceptional value fizz.

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Four wheels move the body - 2 wheels move the soul.

Well found!!

Yes, I met Marielle.

I paid €6.40 per bottle for the fizz at the winery which I thought pretty good. Wish I got more after having had a bottle at home 'cos it is cracking stuff.