2017 Michel Vattan Cuvee Calcaire Sancerre 750 ml

45-Year-Old Sauvignon Blanc

Sancerre prices generally reflect the region’s lofty cachet and unparalleled quality, which is why we always approach a $22 Sancerre with guarded optimism: You have to be ready to walk if the wine is a dud — and ready to pounce if it is a unicorn. The 2017 Michel Vattan Cuvée Calcaire is the latter: A rare Sancerre that manages to capture the region’s unique character and quality at a weeknight price. This 2016 impressed us so much that we claimed the entire U.S. allocation. The 2017 vintage gave us déjà vu: It is the perfect expression of limestone soils, 45-year-old Sauvignon Blanc vines farmed to organic specifications, fastidious winemaking, and a fine vintage. Crisp, complex, and classic, we have no doubt that this is the $22 Sancerre that Wine Access clients have been clamoring for.

The vineyards at the family-owned Michel Vattan estate in the tiny village of Maimbray are an iconic picture of the central Loire Valley: woody and stout half-century-old Sauvignon Blanc vines wend their way out of light grey slopes. The Vattan estate, which has grown from five to 22 acres over three generations, consists of two distinct Sancerrois soils: the crusty, fossil-laden terres blanches, and the jagged, fragmented limestone caillotes from which the Cuvée Calcaire is drawn.

The 2017 season in Sancerre started inauspiciously with an early frost — and then settled into near-perfection. The growing season was “almost perfect right up until harvest,” according to critic Jancis Robinson MW’s reports. Decanter reported overall high quality in Sancerre as well. The weather ended up so ideal that several growers finished picking their 2017 fruit before the start date of their 2016 harvest.

But the impact of several challenging vintages are still being felt in Sancerre: Although 2017 saw an increase in yields from the frost-trimmed 2016 vintage, a run of successive small harvests starting in 2012 had caused cellar inventories to run extremely low. This hard fact is putting a lot of pressure on the 2017 Sancerre to replenish barren cellars, which can push prices skyward.

The fact that so many wineries and consumers are feeling that pinch makes the Cuvée Calcaire even more of an outlier. Even under normal conditions, finding an exemplary Sancerre from a strong vintage under $30 is rare. Finding one at $22 — and in such lean times — is practically unheard of. The Michel Vattan is fast becoming one of our go-to affordable Sancerres. If you did not take advantage last vintage, there is no time like the present.