Vintage: 2018

Country: France

Region: Loire

Grape Varieties: Pinot Noir

Alcohol by Volume: 12.5%

Bottle size: 75cl

In Sancerre, just a short ride north of Verdigny, lies the village of Sury-en-Vaux, home to Philippe Raimbault, a ninth generation vintner. Owning vines on both sides of the Loire, in the Pouilly Fumé and Coteaux du Giennois appellations, Philippe has vines planted on steep slopes of les caillottes soil from the Jurassic period, an era that left behind fossils of sea creatures that are more than 130 million years old.

On steep slopes of Silex clay soils, Raimbault grows Sauvignon Blanc and for his Sancerre Rouge and Rosé, he grows Pinot Noir and Gamay. The producer of Sancerre “Apud Sariacum” and Sancerre “Apud Sariacum” Rosé, he named both after the ancient namesake of Sury-en-Vaux, because the vines encircle the village.

The Apud Sariacum cuvee Sancerre is the most classic example of the steely minerality that everyone has come to love and expect from Sancerre. Les Lumeaux is sources from the Pouilly-Fumé vineyard Montée des Lumeaux. The wine itself exhibits the natural characteristics of the limestone-clay terroir which is loaded with "caillotes" (pebbly chalk soil) and favored with an excellent southeastern exposure. Alternatively, Raimbault’s “Mosaïque” is sourced from made from vines grown across several parcels of predominantly Kimmeridgian marl soil then blended for this cuvee. This "mosaic" of terroirs gives the wine its extraordinary balance.