Domaine Alphonse Mellot Sancerre "Génération Dix-Neuf" dry white 2019 (3 bottles)

PRESENTATION OF DOMAINE ALPHONSE MELLOT
+ ALL ITS OTHER WINES IN STOCK

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Domaine Alphonse Mellot Sancerre "Génération Dix-Neuf" dry white 2019:

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Stephan Reinhardt, January 2022): 93/100. The 2019 Sancerre Génération Dix-Neuf (XIX) is deep, complex and subtle on the nose that reveals flinty as well as yeasty and delicate phenolic notes intertwined with perfectly ripe and elegant stone fruit aromas such as mangos. Fresh, round and very elegant on the palate, this is a medium to full-bodied, minerally tensioned and elegantly textured Sancerre with fine tannins and an intense and saline finish. The only problem I have: the wine is already pretty matured. 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in January 2022. Drink date: 2022 - 2028

Technical sheet written by the domaine:

Expression of the new and XIXth generation Mellot.
A white, like "Edmond", from the oldest vines of La Moussière fermented and aged in 900-liter truncated tanks.
A stylistic exercise and healthy competition between the two cuvées.

Tasting notes:
Pale yellow gold with a very slight green - bright, lively and clear - with a ripe appearance.
The nose is maturity and freshness.
Beautiful expression of honeyed lemon, with a touch of menthol, acacia, then dried fruits, field mushrooms, and iodized minerality. With aeration, it enriches with nuances of beeswax, gingerbread, and lemon menthol.
The palate is ample and fresh, rich and robust.
The clean attack is enveloped by a softness well married with acidity. The mid-palate on the reserve is carried by a toasted hazelnut.
The rich finish explodes with a note of lively freshness that accentuates the iodized minerality, muscat, boxwood. A slight vegetal bitterness mingles with the long persistence.
With aging, it should evolve towards terpenic aromas, white truffle on a honeyed hazelnut background...
It is a powerful and fine wine, caught in the duality of richness/firmness and evolution/freshness.

Food/wine pairings: Fresh or roasted oysters, bouchot mussels with thyme flower, clams in saffron soup, fried eels with Guérande fleur de sel and Andilly butter petals, langoustine casserole with sugar snap peas, Loire pike in a salt crust, garlic rose monkfish leg, sea bass fillet with basil, veal sweetbreads skewers, rabbit's bottom with autumn mushrooms, all fresh or blue goat cheeses, almond tuiles, warm apricot tart...

Serving temperature: 10 to 12°C as an aperitif or for tasting and 12 to 14°C with food.


Harvest:
The Cuvée Génération XIX white is made like the Cuvée Edmond from the old vines of La Moussière, which are 87 years old.
The harvest was done in small crates of 25 kg. All grapes are sorted using a sorting table and transported to the presses by conveyor (whole cluster pressing).

Average yield: 45 hl/ha.

Area: 1 ha 10.

Grape variety: Sauvignon Blanc

Exposure: South-Southwest.

Geology:
Soil: Saint-Doulchard marls (pebbly soils).
Subsoil: Upper Kimmeridgian.

Planting density: 10,000 vines per hectare.
All new plantings are done between 9,000 and 10,000 vines knowing that the Sancerrois vineyard is generally planted, according to the appellation decree, at 6,666 vines per hectare.

Viticulture:
The vines are pruned in simple Guyot.
The vineyard is managed in organic and biodynamic farming.

Vinification:
Sequential pneumatic pressing.
Static settling at a temperature below 10°C for about 48 hours.
Fermentation takes place in 900-liter truncated tanks.
Aging on fine lees for a variable period depending on the year (on average 10 to 12 months).
The production of the Cuvée Génération XIX white represents about 6,000 bottles.
Bottling is done by us at the estate.