2020 Simonnet-Febvre Sauvignon Saint-Bris Burgundy 750 ml

If Chablis and Sancerre had a child, its name would be Saint-Bris. 

Mineral, vivid, and chiseled: In the hands of member-favorite Chablis producer Simonnet-Febvre, this Sauvignon Blanc transcends the unusual and becomes something entirely unique. 

It’s also quite rare. The Saint-Bris appellation has a mere 325 acres planted to Sauvignon Blanc, and it’s completely unknown to most people—even wine aficionados, and very few of these wines make it to US soil. From the only village in Burgundy to produce Sauvignon Blanc, this is a mind-melting discovery.

Saint-Bris stands in defiance of Burgundy’s Chardonnay hegemony and offers one of the best windows we’ve found into the miracle of terroir. Everything about this wine feels like Chablis, from the weight, to the vibrant nose awash in lime zest, to the minerally finish. But entwined with these elements are quenching citrus-fruit flavors, lighter-bodied than Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé but every bit as penetrating. We think fans of New Zealand and California styles will be emailing us trying to get more once our tiny allocation runs out. 

Maison Simonnet-Febvre was established in 1840, and they’ve been producing some of the most outstanding and prototypical wines from Chablis and the broader Yonne ever since. They are one of only a couple dozen producers bottling Saint-Bris, and one of only a handful bringing those wines to the United States. 

The 2020 vintage in the Yonne—a “very successful year,” according to Decanter—began with a cool spring followed by a hot, dry summer that allowed the vines at Simonnet-Febvre to develop grapes with perfect ripeness and concentration. The winery praised the vintage as one of the best they’d seen in years.