I liked this Sancerre, and like many savvy buyers, bagged a few on the 25% for 6 trail at Sainsbury's before Christmas.

The wine retails at £16 now. 2013 was a riper vintage than '11 and '12, and time in the bottle has had a positive effect.

It is an elegant sancerre, flint, chalk and salt minerality are its main attributes, but because the final fermentation was left on the lees, the wine has an agreeable mouth feel. Not short of acidity, just restrained, does not shout.
The Ned people will not necessarily appreciate this wine, however for class, breed, and purity, hand picked and sorted, I think this wine delivers a decent Sancerre.

On the 25% for 6 offer, a QO star is earnt.

I almost forgot - drink in one sitting - whoosh and it's gone.

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Duncan

I went to Sainsbury tonight. No sign of this but bought one of these for the same money. 94 from Parker


http://www.bibendum.com.au/A.-Mellot-Domaine-De-La-Moussiere-Sancerre-2013-750ml.html

Yeah - I'm up for that as well Mr G.

These stylistic expressions of SB minerality single them out as truely representative of the unique quality we want in a Sancerre. The long bright days of the 2013 early Autumn seem to be delivering that Loire purity.

I hope it drinks as well as the write-up. It sounds ethereal.

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Duncan

Very disappointing

Pale, more acidic than I was expecting for such a high profile wine. Flavour that reminded me of the Fouassier Grand Groux for £6 less from Somerfield. A hint of soap. All the pro notes for the Grand Groux were good but all the amateur enthusiasts hated it, including me.

I couldn't finish the first glass on day one. Day two and the soap was gone leaving behind a bog standard flinty Sancerre. Intense but nothing complex or exciting and even if you prefer the flinty side of Sancerre to the gooseberry 94 is way OTT.

Baffled

Chris Kussak describes the wine rather differently to Bibendum's panel of tasters. He likes it though, but his statement is a bit more inline with your soft soap comment: which always shows a very soft, rather feminine minerality. It calls to mind perfumed chalk touched with citrus leaves



Sadly one vineyard that doesn't receive a mention is La Moussière, a very expansive lieu-dit covering at least 35 hectares in many different parcels next to the main road between Sancerre and Bourges. The terroir here is largely Saint Doulchard marl, of Kimmeridgian origin, and there are a variety of favourable south and southwest-facing exposures. Alphonse Mellot own approximately 90% of the parcels in the Moussière vineyard, all managed using biodynamic methods, and it is a significant source of fruit, the harvest here contributing to the entry-level La Moussière cuvée, as well as Génération XIX and Cuvée Edmond, two of the domaine's top wines. The most commonly encountered cuvée is most certainly La Moussière though, and this weekend's top wine was the 2013 Sancerre La Moussière. This is not quite a gin-clear wine, but it certainly has a very pale hue. The nose is very typical of this cuvée, which always shows a very soft, rather feminine minerality. It calls to mind perfumed chalk touched with citrus leaves, tangerine zest, with a lemon-lime-sherbet edge. It is certainly minerally but also rather effusive in style, with a lightly bitter, pithy hint of fruit wrapped around it all. There follows a gentle and supple palate, with good sense of bitterness to the fruit as suggested by the nose, with some textured substance and grip around the edges. Plenty of firm acidity keeps it lively. A long and pithy wine, with good character, and a success in what was - in the final stages at least - a rather challenging vintage. 16/20 (12/1/15)

A challenging vintage at the end. Friends on the Loire near Angers, quite a way down stream, said 'thankfully', that September into October was drier and brighter than the previous 2 years !

Indeed from the link, I was expecting a bubbling stream minerality, of the taste you may get on the steeper slopes on the heritage coast and crossing paths in Dorset.

Hmmmnnn - dunno. Seeping / wet cork ?

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Duncan

SOAPY
Savonneux (F) Seifig (G) Sapore di sapone (I) Jabonoso (S)
An impression of soapiness can just be a youthful characteristic of a white wine that will develop nicely. This is particularly applicable to unready Riesling, but can also apply to Chenin Blanc and other grape varieties. Too distinctive soapiness is an olfactory fault.
Caprylate, caproate, ethyl caprate

Tom Cannavan

Cheers for the research Mr G,

I went looking further on Tom Cannavan's site and found this link to Tom Stevenson's detailed explanation to Aroma & Flavours:

http://www.wine-pages.com/guests/tom/taste6.htm.

As he says in the explanation:
This is purely for reference, so there's no need to get bogged down here unless you want a user-friendly explanation of one of the following terms:

YEAST AUTOLYSIS, MAILLARD REACTION, MERCAPTANS, OTHER VOLATILE SULPHUR COMPOUNDS, PYRAZINES, TERPENES and VOLATILE PHENOLS

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Duncan