2015 Domaine Vincent Ricard La Potine Sauvignon Blanc Touraine 750 ml

A Study in “Silex”: The Incredible Story of Vincent Ricard

In 2002, after a year-long apprenticeship with Philippe Alliet in Chinon, Vincent Ricard returned home to join his father on the hillsides of Thésée-La-Romaine, just a few miles from the Château de Chenonceau perched atop the River Cher. It wouldn’t take long before the 24-year-old Ricard decided that either things had to change or, as much as he loved his dad, he’d be moving on.

At the time, almost every producer in town sold his entire harvest to the local cooperative. As each family was paid by the ton, growers pushed the envelope on yields. Those high crop levels led to underripe harvests, making for Sauvignon Blanc that was dilute, bearing no resemblance to the great mineral whites of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé.

When Vincent told his dad that he’d be dropping crop aggressively a couple months before his first harvest, and then intended to vinify and bottle 10 percent of what he picked under a label bearing the family’s name, his father was worried. But Vincent’s father really became alarmed when the younger Ricard announced plans to travel two hours east to ask for advice from another Sauvignon Blanc winegrower who also farmed flint-strewn hillsides.

The mere mention of Didier Dagueneau sent shivers down the spine of the frugal farmers of the Touraine, even as Dagueneau’s famous flint-soil Pouilly-Fumé “Silex” was sending international collectors into a frenzy. “I call my dad ‘Chef,’ ” Vincent laughed, as he treated us to a full lineup of 2015s, the richest and fattest Sauvignon Blancs he’s ever crafted. “Chef thought I’d lost my mind and would bankrupt the family. But he bit his tongue. He was excited by my passion, proud of me — even if he was terrified by what I might say after a couple days with Didier.”

We spent dozens of evenings with Didier Dagueneau in Saint-Andelain, discussing the merits of barrel-aging Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc and biodynamic farming. He was a wild man. But like so many of the most fanatical French winegrowers, mania drove Didier to genius. Over nearly 20 years, Didier had transformed the steep slopes of Saint-Andelain into the most precious Sauvignon Blanc vineyard in the world. Ricard learned on that first trip that Dagueneau’s terroir in Pouilly-Fumé much resembled that of Thésée-La-Romaine. Vincent returned home with fire in his eyes.

“When I got home, I told Chef that we were doing everything wrong. I was planning on dropping fruit, but now I wanted to drop twice as much. I wanted to buy barrels. I wanted to rip out our cellar and build a new one. After spending 48 hours with Didier, I wanted to do everything at once. Good thing Chef held the purse strings, or I would have left us penniless!”

Over the last 13 vintages, Vincent Ricard has catapulted his family’s estate in Thésée-La-Romaine to the top of the Loire Valley pecking order, often outpointing the Sancerre elite. At last count, 32 Michelin-starred restaurants feature Ricard’s wildly minerally Sauvignon Blancs so clearly cut of “Silex” cloth. This past June, in Tours, Vincent unveiled his 2015s, a spectacular vintage in the Loire, one that’s given birth to the richest, fattest, and most exotic Sauvignons of Ricard’s winemaking career.

The 2015 “La Potine” is pale-green to the rim, infused with mouthwatering aromas of ripe apple and pear, lightly touched with anise. Rich and juicy, with Sancerre-like saline minerality, boasting exotic flavors of ripe apple/pear, a hint of beeswax, still braced with stinging flint-soil acidity. Drink now-2020.

At $14/bottle — we recommend a CASE buy on this truly special Sancerre.