The Secrets of Sancerre: A Hidden Loire Valley Gem | EUROtoday

Set aside from the Loire of romantic châteaux and infrequently neglected, Sancerre is taken into account one of many area’s most alluring villages, mixing modern attraction with timeless appeal. By Jennifer Ladonne…

Anyone who drinks wine has heard of Sancerre, and but the village itself stays off the well-worn Loire vacationer monitor. And that is proper. one in every of its many points of interest. This laid-back village, set on the Loire River simply on the border of Burgundy, may be very a lot itself, shifting to its personal rhythms and having fun with all the nice issues that make a French village particularly one centered round wine – so satisfying to go to.

Destination Grand Sancerrois (c) Vinorizon 2024

That Sancerre is stuffed with delights does not harm, nor does the truth that it is a direct two-hour prepare experience from Paris and stocked with high quality locations to dine, keep, store and, after all, pattern the native wines, of which the Sancerre appellation is just one. Arriving by automobile affords a splendid view of the village, perched excessive on a hill above the meandering River Loire. Once there, countless patchwork vistas of the Sancerre area’s vineyards, pastures, hamlets and the gleaming river beneath unfold earlier than you.

Destination Grand Sancerrois © Philippe ARMANET – Cyclist within the vineyards

Sancerre is the perfect village for wandering, and although you will not be wowed by a cathedral or main historic landmark, its fairly church and white stone homes relationship from medieval occasions to the 18th century possess a quiet, harmonious attraction. Narrow, winding streets open onto pretty vistas or result in even smaller passageways. Some are lined with artists’ boutiques displaying all the pieces from handmade jewellery to knitted fashions, pottery and work. But wine is the actual star right here.

The Sancerre area has been producing wine at the very least because the eighth century and possibly way back to Roman occasions. The area produced largely reds from the Pinot Noir grape till 1885, when the phylloxera aphid decimated the vineyards. The complete area was replanted with the white Sauvignon Blanc grape, which makes up 80% of those monovarietal wines. Red Sancerre, constructed from 100% Pinot Noir, represents 13% of the wines produced, whereas 7% are rosés.

EXCELLENT WINE REGION

Covering solely 7,500 acres, Sancerre is a comparatively small wine area, contemplating its worldwide renown. But if you realize Sancerre wines as the simple, go-to alternative on wine lists and off the grocery cabinets, you’re in for a pleasing shock. “The whites produced here may come from a single grape, but each parcel expresses something different in the wine,” defined Emmanuel Marot, director of the superb La Maison des Sancerre. Each of the area’s three main soils – flinty silex, terres blanche (marl in English) and limestone-produce a surprising vary of traits in Sancerre wines that vary from natural, vegetal or citrusy, with a bracing minerality to notes of truffle, white flowers, honey or candied fruits. The better of the Sancerre winemakers can coax nuanced flavors and aromas from refined wines that enhance with something from 10 to twenty years of growing older. Sancerre’s different appellations, additionally constructed from Sauvignon Blanc, may be equally thrilling: Pouilly-Fumé, Menetou-Salon, Quincy and Reuilly.

Maison des Sancerre Reportage_May_2018_(c)_Nicole_Gevrey

WINE AND CHEESE

A tasting is important for locating the numerous expressions of Sancerre wines. At La Maison des Sancerre, together with a program of interactive reveals and a brief movie, you’ll be able to pattern a couple of dozen vintages – together with whites, reds and rosés on a spacious terrace with eye-popping views over the panorama, then store on the boutique. La Maison organizes personal tastings however a wander via the village reveals a dozen or so wine boutiques, some devoted to a single producer, that provide walk-in tastings, or you’ll be able to go for a extra in-depth tasting, generally with meals.

Alphonse and Joseph Mellot are of the identical household however function completely individually and each supply tastings. At Joseph Mellot’s state-of-the-art facility you’ll be able to go to the wine cellar, style wines from the barrels, and end at an elegant upstairs tasting room with a flight of the producer’s wines from Sancerre and different areas of the Loire, must you so want. Meanwhile, for wine lovers who’re curious about biodynamic, natural and pure wines, the educated proprietors of Aux Trésors de Bacchus, on the charming Rue des Jews, supply a fantastic choice from smaller producers they’re comfortable to expound upon, in English, over a tasting.

Wine is not the area’s solely specialty. Crottin de Chavignol, recognized merely as Chavignol, is one in every of France’s oldest goat’s cheeses and among the many first to earn AOP (protected) standing. Named after the close by hamlet of Chavignol, you’ll be able to style the cheese in Sancerre or at a number of producers in and round Chavignol. La Bête Noire, a couple of kilometers from Sancerre, provides excursions and enjoyable actions for teenagers (like milking goats) and you should purchase their handmade cheeses. The Sancerre Tourist Office gives you info on a dozen or so choices for locating this iconic cheese.

Destination Grand Sancerrois_Crottin de Chavignol cutout

NEW HOTEL, NEW DIMENSION

The opening of Les Hauts de Sancerre resort in July 2025 exponentially raised the village’s lodging profile. Owners Audrey Dumont and David Chicard lived in Belgium however spent their holidays in Sancerre, David’s hometown. Over the years, the couple fell in love with the Château de Sancerre, the village’s most stunning, and visual, landmark, a trip residence of the Marnier-Lapostolle household of Grand Marnier liqueur fame. In 2023, by a stroke of luck, the couple had been in a position to purchase the Belle Époque mansion, set at Sancerre’s highest level, alongside the 14th-century Tour de Sancerre, the village’s most vital historic landmark. After two years of renovations, the château emerged as a luminous luxurious lodging, its white partitions and streamlined Scandinavian decor putting the fantastic views from each angle entrance and heart. The resort’s pretty gardens, spa and gastronomic restaurant, led by the proficient 22-year-old Belgian chef Arnaud Munster, all add as much as the proper luxurious weekend getaway.

THE HAUTS OF SANCERRE c. courtesy Les Hauts de Sancerre 24

In the middle of city, the four-room resort Folklore is one other wonderful alternative. Both accommodations are just a few minutes’ stroll from all that this unmissable village has to supply.

From France Today Magazine

Lead picture credit score: Photo: Shutterstock