Coteaux du Giennois Calcaire

The family has been making wine here for several generations, and Benoit gradually took over the vineyards in the mid-1990s. Today, the property comprises about fifteen hectares (37.5 acres) of Pouilly Fume, Pouilly sur Loire and Coteaux du Giennois on various types of soil (kimmeridgian marl, siliceous-clay and Villiers limestone). Their approach is to continually strive to improve the quality of the wines through the development of sustainable methods, using a strict minimum of products to treat the vines against the disease.

With the prices of Sauvignon Blanc from neighbouring Pouilly Fume and Sancerre skyrocketing, in many cases doubling in the last decade, it is up-and-coming regions like Coteaux du Giennois that are seeing huge investment and increased interest from the international wine scene. It is a very small appellation with only about 470 acres planted which surrounds the village of Gien. As always, we call this wine great — a zesty, flinty and stony, dry Sauvignon Blanc that weighs in with a wonderful liquified rock minerality (due to the limestone soils, hence the name “Calcaire”), with loads of salivary-gland-tickling citrus oils, hints of tropical fruits, candied grapefruit and straw with a finish that has a whiff of sea-salty air. 2016 is a vintage that is near perfect in the area, providing excellent freshness and ripeness for those who picked early, with boatloads of natural, juicy acidity and that salty minerality to balance everything out.