2016 Chateau de Fontaine-Audon Sancerre 750 ml

Bollinger’s Loire Valley Jewel

Dazzlingly bright and finely concentrated, the 2016 Château de Fontaine-Audon Sancerre is a single-vineyard Sauvignon Blanc crafted with Bollinger’s meticulous touch. The legendary Champagne house purchased the 133-year-old winery in 1973, recognizing the superb potential of the estate’s Crémants and steely Sauvignon Blancs. Thanks to Bollinger’s massive investment, revitalizing the vineyards and renovating the limestone cellars, Château de Fontaine-Audon is today reputed as the “Bollinger of the Loire.” Off a 37-acre plot in the northern part of the appellation, silex soils infuse this wine with characteristic gunflint smoke. Praising the “beautiful sense of minerality,” Jeb Dunnuck calls it “one classy Sancerre to drink over the next couple years.” 91 points from Wine Spectator. 24% of the release price at $24.99 a bottle. Case-buy!

Founded in 1885, Château de Fontaine-Audon takes its name from the young husband and wife who originally ran the estate: winemaker and cellarman Edouard Langlois and Jeanne Chateau, married at 23 and 19 years of age respectively. From the start, Château de Fontaine-Audon was famed in the Loire region for its sparkling wines; after Edouard was killed in action in World War 1, winning the Croix de Guerre, Jeanne, her son, and son-in-law carried on the operation themselves.

When Bollinger decided to invest in a Loire Valley property in the 1970s, they couldn’t miss the buzz around Château de Fontaine-Audon’s fresh, delicate Crémants, recognized as among the best in the region. But equally enchanting were the estate’s piercingly mineral Sancerres. The Château de Fontaine-Audon vineyard sits in Sainte-Gemme-en-Sancerrois, above a fault line of flinty silex soils. While the villages of Chavignol and Bué produce rich whites with lots of plump fruit, the wines of Sainte-Gemme are distinguished by their smoky subtlety, rocky minerality, and persistence. Ever since Bollinger poured its considerable resources into the estate, the meticulous vineyard management practices put into place have made for a Sancerre that is one of the Loire Valley’s best value whites.

2016 proved a riper vintage, more tropical than gooseberry-tart, producing a vibrant set of whites that bridge the gap between New World and Old. While yields across the region were halved by spring frosts, the Château de Fontaine-Audon vineyard eked out a small, if terrifically concentrated, crop. After harvest, fruit underwent gentle pressing, saw fermentation in stainless steel, and was kept on its lees for six months until bottling in April. Mouthwatering, under-$25 Sancerre compliments of France’s finest Champagne house.