The vineyard covers 14 communes around the hilltop town of Sancerre, among them Bué, Crézancy-en-Sancerre, Sury-en-Vaux, Verdigny and Saint-Satur. The vines climb steep slopes close to the Loire, which softens swings in temperature. Pouilly-Fumé, on the right bank opposite, is a separate appellation, made from Sauvignon Blanc alone.

Three soils share the hills. White marls called terres blanches, in the west, give fuller, more powerful wines. Limestone called caillottes gives fruity wines. Clay with flint, called silex, found mostly in the east, gives more floral wines.

Gregory of Tours mentioned vines here in 582. From the twelfth century, Augustinian monks of Saint-Satur and the counts of Sancerre developed the vineyard, then known for Pinot Noir reds shipped along the Loire. Phylloxera ruined it at the end of the nineteenth century, and growers replanted mostly with Sauvignon Blanc. White Sancerre became an appellation in 1936, and red and rosé from Pinot Noir followed in 1959.

White Sancerre is dry and lively, with citrus, white flowers and a mineral edge. The reds bring cherry and morello cherry on a firm, full palate, and the rosés are pale, delicate and fruity.

Domaine Edmond Vatan, in the hamlet of Chavignol near Sancerre, kept only one parcel, at the foot of the steep Monts Damnés slope. Domaine Vincent Pinard, a family estate at Bué, grows Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir on terres blanches and caillottes, and bottles its plots apart.

The wines above are the Sancerre wines in the cellar. See also Côte Roannaise, far upstream, Vouvray and Chinon, downstream in Touraine, or all our Loire Valley wines.