2014 Domaine Daulny Sancerre 750 ml

2014 Etienne et Bertrand Daulny Sancerre: #1 Under-$20 Mineral White of the Year?

Four years ago, Etienne Daulnyand his enologist brother Bertrand turned out Stephen Tanzer’s highest-rated Sancerre in four years, earning a glowing review and a rare 92-point score in the International Wine Cellar.

In the first week of June, we returned to the minuscule hamlet of Chaudoux and once again knocked on the most revered cellar door in town. As has been the case every summer since 1996, Etienne welcomed us in.

That afternoon tasting was one of the more unforgettable of the last couple of years. While most people drink their Sancerre young, the Daulny brothers craft magnificently mineral Sauvignon Blancs that, depending upon the vintage, age gracefully for over three decades!

We began with Tanzer’s top-rated 2010. Then we worked our way back in Loire Valley time. The terrifically phenolic 2008 was golden in color, racy, and almost briny, just beginning to show off its beeswax core. The 2005 was highly structured and still wound-up, not yet ready to shed its youthful tension. The 2002 is a classic. Rich and luscious. Despite the size of the harvest, acids, as always chez Daulny, remain firm, arguing gracefully for another decade of cellar slumber.

The 1999 Daulny Sancerre is still a baby in a cradle. Ditto on the stellar 1994. But it wouldn’t be for another hour, when Bertrand uncorked the shocking 1984 — a vintage that was decried on release — that we once again discovered the utter genius of Sancerre’s most renowned fraternal wine-growing team. Still green-gold in hue, boasting mouthwatering aromas of apple, quince, and honeysuckle, the attack is pure bitter honey ladled over high-tension pear/quince compote, finishing with terrific acidity and persistence. We took half a bottle back to the B&B with us and drained the bottle at 10pm. The wine hadn’t missed a beat.

How then to describe this just-released 2014, a bottle that’s certainly in the running for Best Under-$20 Mineral White of the Year? Brilliant pale-green in hue, infused with piercing aromas of apple, pear, and dried apricot, high-toned and mineral. Rich, juicy, yet tightly wound, finishing with electrifying vibrancy and Sancerre cut.

Etienne compared the 2014 to the 2002 in its first year of life. Bertrand countered, suggesting a logical assemblage of Tanzer’s 92-point 2010 and the stupefying 1984 — a miracle Sancerre that is still locked in suspended animation 30 years after bottling!

$35 on release. Just $19.50 via Direct Import — right from the cellar in Chaudoux — this afternoon on WineAccess. 100 cases just hit port. NOT TO BE MISSED!!!