Alphonse Mellot Cuvee Edmond Sancerre Blanc 2019
What is special about this wine?
Most of the Sancerre are not fermented or matured in new oak barrels. This wine, different from most Sancerre, is fermented and matured for 10 to 14 months in 60% new casks. This results in a richer and more powerful Sancerre with great depth and complexity.
The appearance: Pale gold yellow in colour with light green sheen - brilliant, bright and clear - a young honest appearance. A rich majestic nose. All is rich, ripe and powerful, whether it is fruity or floral. Density, depth and balanced graceful "majestic nature" are established from the outset. Honey, vanilla, lemon, brioche etc., follow each other as if in a daydream, all orchestrated through a new woody tone.
Harvesting
The Edmond Vintage is produced from old La Moussière vines between 40 and 87 years old.
Average yield: 41 hl/ha
It is picked in small 25 Kg boxes. All the grapes have been sorted by a sorting table and transported into the press by conveyor belt (whole grape pressing).
Area: 6 ha parcel.
Grape variety: Sauvignon blanc
Exposure: South - Southwest
Geology:
Soil: Saint-Doulchard marls (solids lumps).
Subsoil: Upper Lusitanian to Portlandian period cretaceous.
Planting density
8,000 to 10,000 vinestocks per hectare.
Viticulture
The vines are pruned by the simple Guyot method or Royat Cordon pruning.
The vineyard is trained in organic and biodynamic vine growing.
Wine - making
Sequential pneumatic pressing.
Static settling at temperatures below 10°C for about 48 hours.
Fermentation takes place in new casks for 60%, 20% in one wine casks and 20% in two wines casks at a temperature between 18 and 24°C.
The wood comes from predominantly French Bertrange oaks, the firewood of which is average and honey coloured. It is used for 228 l and 300 l casks, and 320 l flutes.
It is aged on fine lees and regularly pumped over a variable ageing period depending on the year (10 to 14 months on average).
About 26,000 bottles of the Edmond Vintage are produced and it is bottled by us on the estate.
| Winery | Alphonse Mellot |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Loire |
| Wine Type | White Wine |
| Grape variety | Sauvignon Blanc |
| Bottle Size | Bottle |
| Vintage | 2019 |
Browse all Alphonse Mellot Wines
Even in a region with such a venerable history as Sancerre, the Mellot family boasts an unusually rich heritage. Alphonse Mellot represents the 19th generation of a wine making dynasty: his ancestor, Cesar Mellot was appointed wine advisor to King Louis XIV in 1698.
Great wines are not made by obsessing with the past and this is a domaine which is very much focused on the present, but with an eye to the future. A total of 45 hectares of vineyards are immaculately managed according to biodynamic principles and the wines, particularly the top cuvees, benefit from being sourced from old vines; over 80 years in the case of generation XIX. These wines show precise flavours which combine fruit and minerality with a touch of wood.
