Sancerre, Domaine Serge Laloue 2024
James Suckling 92
Mix any six bottles and you pay the Any 6+ price at checkout — no code needed.
£10 tracked UK delivery, however many bottles.
We pack and send twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays, by Royal Mail Tracked 48.
Members pay £23.20 — £5.80 less on this bottle. Membership is £120 a year and carries the EDKA Promise. Membership terms
Why this wine
Three generations at Thauvenay, working eleven hectares of south-east facing vines that average thirty-five years old across all three Sancerre soil types. The cuvée sees no oak whatsoever, so what reaches the glass is flint and fruit and nothing else. HVE certified, from an estate better known here for its rare red Sancerre.
At a glance
- Grape
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Region
- Loire Valley, France
- Alcohol
- 13.00%
- Body
- Medium
- Acidity
- High
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Short (3-5 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Seafood, Cheese, Salads
How it tastes
Pure citrus fruit and white pear on the nose, with delicate elderflower behind. The palate is crisp and elegant rather than weighty, with real mineral tension running through to a zesty, mouthwatering finish. Sauvignon Blanc 100%.
The producer
Serge Laloue founded this domaine in the 1960s at Thauvenay, five kilometres south of Sancerre; Christine and her brother Franck took over their father's work in the 1990s, and Franck's son Clément has recently joined after finishing his viticulture studies. The estate covers twenty hectares, and this wine comes from eleven hectares of south-east facing vines averaging thirty to thirty-five years old, across three soils: calcareous clay, cool and high in limestone, for finesse and elegance; siliceous clay with a flinty component for mineral notes; and sandy clay for complexity. The vineyard is ploughed rather than treated with herbicides, with cover crops between the rows and sexual confusion used against predators, and the estate is HVE certified. The grapes were carefully selected and gently pressed, fermented with selected yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel, then matured on the lees for texture and subtle complexity; the cuvée sees no oak at all, to keep the fruit pure.
Food and drinking
Serve at 8-10°C. Good with oysters, grilled trout, goat's cheese and a spring vegetable salad. Drink over the next three to five years; no decanting needed. Sealed with a DIAM cork. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.