2015 Domaine Fournier Pere et Fils Sancerre "Les Belles Vignes" 750 ml

Fournier and the Great 2015 Vintage

Fourniers have been making wine in the Loire Valley since the 1800s, but the family’s modern success story begins in 1950. Paul Fournier took over his family business that year with only 5 acres and, over the next 40 years, grew the estate into a 222-acre giant across the three most important appellations: Pouilly-Fumé, Menetou Salon, and Sancerre.

Today, Paul’s legacy is carried on by his sons Claude and Jacques, Claude’s wife Eliane (whose own family has been making wine for 13 generations), and now Claude and Eliane’s children Thibaut and Aude and their spouses help out, too. With so much prized land under ownership from Bué, Verdigny, Sancerre, and Maimbray, the Fourniers have access to some of the finest sources of Sauvignon in the Sancerre region. Further, in the richest, most copious of vintages, they also have the ability to achieve exceptional quality and complexity at low cost. Such was the case in 2015.

The 2015 growing season in the Loire Valley got off to an epic start and never slowed down.

A warm, dry spring gave way to a hot and sunny summer — setting up 2015 in Sancerre to be one of the finest in recent memory. From Amigny to Chavignol, it was smooth sailing clear through the end of August, without any of the usual hurdles (hail, mildew, etc.) the Sancerrois face in more challenging years.

By the time the call to harvest came at the beginning of September — one of the earliest on record — the Sauvignon grapes planted in the limestone hillsides of Sancerre had ripened to perfect maturity. Fruit quality was off the charts for Fournier. While many made good wine in 2015, the vintage allowed the top winemakers like Claude Fournier to shine. Rarely have we seen wines of such mouthwatering concentration, with all of the riveting, mineral-driven acidity that screams top Sancerre.

Fournier’s 2015 Sancerre “Les Belles Vignes” is a pale yellow/green with gold reflections. Enticing aromas of gooseberry, syringa, green apple, and anise. Broad and crisp, but energetic, combining saline and stone minerality with grapefruit and apples, finishing with excellent vivacity, persistence, and length, arguing gracefully for 3 to 4 years of cellar slumber.

Not only is this one of the richest Sancerres we’ve encountered from the vintage, it’s also Wine Spectator’s TOP wine of the region in 2015. Just $21.99. Shipping included on 6.