Sancerre Monts Damnés 2022, Thomas-Labaille

Guide Hachette : 1 étoile : vin très réussi : Les Aristides (nom de la cuvée en France, appelée ici Monts Damnés, nom de la parcelle) proviennent de terres blanches, nom que l'on donne aux marnes argilo-calcaires dans la région de Sancerre. Ils dévoilent un bouquet intense, marqué d'abord par les agrumes, puis nuancé de touches de fleur d'oranger. La bouche, ample, offre beaucoup de gras. Elle est équilibrée par une juste acidité. Cette harmonie entre puissance et fraîcheur devrait faire merveille sur des saint-jacques poêlées. Un dégustateur tenterait aussi l'expérience sur une pâtisserie au chocolat amer...

Wine Advocate : 92 pts : Bottled unfiltered after extended lees contact and labeled exclusively for the U.S. (et le Québec, ndlr...), but from the same base wine as the Les Aristides Vieilles Vignes he sells in other markets, Labaille’s Sancerre Les Monts Damnes – around a quarter of which sojourns in barriques and demi-muids – reflects myriad mostly tiny holdings, the largest one and a quarter acres. Despite having been harvested only well into October, it was bottled in July rather than as usual in September, due to the impending early harvest, but clearly no harm was thereby done! A mouthwatering and fascinating impression of chalk, oyster shell and crystalline mineral elements shimmering through a transparent medium of juicy lime, white currant and grapefruit alternates with one of oyster liquor, and saline, sweet, iodine-tinged shrimp shell reduction laced with kelp and zesty, piquant citrus rind. All of this leads to a long finish as saliva-inducing as it is intriguing. Here is a delicious demonstration that full ripeness in this great site is nowadays still compatible with moderate alcohol, registering as it does 13.3%. I would anticipate at least a decade of satisfaction from this superb value. Exactly like Gerard Boulay, Jean-Paul Labaille has forsaken his quaint location in the center of Chavignol for a spacious warehouse-like facility just completed underneath the Grande Cote on the main road to Sancerre; and while the place might look soulless, the effect of removing a cramp in space from the oenological equation has the potential to put more soul in the bottle. That said, Labaille still farms the same 26 prime Chavignol acres and still vinifies in the same fiberglass tanks, supplemented by used demi-muids. (“Stainless steel looks better,” he says with a smile, “but it’s expensive.”)