Sancerre Génération XIX Alphonse Mellot 2008

Lot presentation

Sancerre Génération XIX Alphonse Mellot 2008

The wine

The Génération cuvée is produced in a small one-hectare plot from vines over 60 years old. Domaine Alphonse Mellot cultivates its vines organically and biodynamically. The grapes are harvested by hand before being sorted several times. A cold maceration is carried out for 10 days in order to retain only the most delicate tannins and aromas from the Pinot Noir. After fermentation, the juices are matured in new casks for over a year. It has a deep, ruby red colour and a bouquet of blackberry, blueberry and morello cherry aromas. Maturation notes can be detected, though they are perfectly integrated with those of red fruits. With just 2,800 bottles produced per year, the Génération XIX cuvée is a rare elixir. It has immense cellaring potential, you can count on several decades. It will pair nicely with a mushroom fricassé.

The Mellot family arrived in Sancerre in 1513 and since that time there have been eighteen generations producing wine from father to son - and all named Alphonse! As well as this extraordinary family background, it was of course the wines, both their whites and reds, which attracted our attention. These Sancerre wines bear no comparison with the rest of the appellation. Furthermore, these are the only Sancerre wines that bear the words ""hors concours"" (unrivalled). Alphonse Senior (the 18th Alphonse) has now made way for Alphonse Junior and his daughter Emmanuelle. For almost ten years, the two young winemakers have been asserting their approach. The way the vines are worked is quite simply exceptional: biodynamic, without any synthetic inputs and the plants are maintained by hand. Whenever asked to talk about their work, Alphonse and Emmanuelle like to quote from the French classic Le Petit Prince: “One only understands the things that one tames”. And indeed, vintage after vintage, the two brothers and sister continue to tame their terroirs. The wines are produced here with great craftsmanship, as if they were a work of art. One of the very finest Sancerre domaines - producing wines which have to be tried!