2019 Maison Foucher Ponts Romains Sancerre Loire Valley 750 ml

When our friend Doug called, we knew we were in for a treat. He’s a legendary importer, who's finger is constantly on the pulse, the ultimate insider who’s always got soulful wines that spark a weeknight dance party as easily as they elevate a Michelin-rated meal. Case in point: this bristling, classic, dramatically over-delivering Sancerre from Maison Foucher, grown on coveted sites and brought together by a man who trained at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

For starters, this Sancerre is a staple by the glass at Marea, midtown Manhattan’s Michelin-starred celebrity haunt. In normal times, the Ponts Romains gets gobbled up by the vintage at $30 per glass. Of course, these are not normal times. Today it’s here at a comparable price... for the entire bottle.

It’s worth repeating that this wine is usually reserved entirely for one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world. Call it a stroke of luck, call it making lemonade from lemons. It’s your chance to liberate one of the great Loire whites that has, until now, remained confined to the upper echelons of Columbus Circle. 

The wine’s assembly is guided by Jean Mounard, a former fine-and-rare wine merchant from Paris who shaped his palate tasting and selling such wines as DRC, Mouton-Rothchild, and Leflaive. He starts by sourcing Sauvignon Blanc from three harmonious locations, and shepherds that fruit into one of the most spectacular Sancerres we’ve tried.

Most people don’t think of Sancerre in terms of differential quality the way they would Champagne or Burgundy. But that’s more a quirk of the market than a reflection of the reality on the ground. The truth is that only a handful of villages within the appellation produce the wines that have established Sancerre as an international sensation. Mounard sources his grapes from a trinity of the region’s most coveted villages, each bringing a distinct element to the masterful final wine that he orchestrates in the cellar.

The central village of Sancerre lies on what the French call silex, or flinty soils, which imparts a great deal of mineral stiffness to the wine. Grapes from a stony limestone vineyard in Chavignol give it a concentrated bouquet of clean citrus fruit and white flowers, decorated with a nutty flourish. And the grapes grown on the Kimmeridgian white chalk of d’Amigny, the same white chalk that pulses through Champagne and Chablis, adds a juicy intensity and mouthwatering acidity that compels us again and again to reach for another sumptuous sip. 

Mineral, acid, fruit. It’s not complicated, just perfectly executed Sancerre from the region’s top growing sites, led to completion by one of the great palates in French wine. 

We’re aware of the circumstances that brought this wine to us, which make it a truly special offer. And it's not one that will not come around again.