2023 Maison de Madeleine Terres Blanches Sancerre 750 ml

Not long ago, we were invited to spend a long weekend at a friend’s place on the Maine coast. The kind of house where the windows face the water, the dock needs a coat of paint, and no one is ever in a hurry to leave.

Our host had mapped out the weekend with the precision of someone who takes both fishing and wine seriously—morning lobster pulls from a borrowed trap, afternoons on the water, and evenings built around long dinners with good bottles. The first night called for the full spread: steamed lobsters, littleneck clams, oysters on the half-shell, and a pile of cold shrimp that didn’t last long.

The rule of the weekend was simple: bring something worth drinking. The assembled bottles leaned predictably coastal and French—serious Muscadet, Premier Cru Chablis, a magnum of Vacheron Sancerre someone had been holding onto for exactly this occasion.

While we were shucking oysters on the back porch, our friend Sébastien appeared with a cooler bag over one shoulder. Seb works for an importer with impeccable taste, and he couldn’t contain a grin. “Everyone here brought great wine—I’d be shocked if there’s a bottle under $80 in that cooler—but I threw in a ringer.” He paused. “And I really think Wine Access members are going to like it.”

He grabbed his bottle and poured us a glass of the Maison de Madeleine Terres Blanches Sancerre, and it was spectacular. We locked down all we could.

The Terres Blanches cuvée is named for the chalky Kimmeridgian marl soils—clay and limestone—that define the hillsides of Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre and Sancerre itself. Old vines farmed sustainably without herbicides, on south-southeast exposures that catch every hour of sun. It is precisely the kind of terroir that makes Sancerre worth caring about.

The 2023 growing season in Sancerre was dry through July and August, with cool nights that preserved the acidity and aromatics that define the appellation. The result is a wine with restrained alcohol, precise fruit, and the kind of chalky depth the terres blanches soils are known for.