Single-vineyard wines in Sancerre don’t come with any Premier or Grand Cru rankings, as is the practice elsewhere, but if they did, “Les Herses” would be a Grand Cru. This 2.5-hectare vineyard, first planted by the Gitton family in the early 1960s, is rooted in the kind of flint-rich ‘silex’ soil that produces the most intense, brooding styles of Sancerre, and Gitton’s “Les Herses” bottling is a perennial must-have for us here at SommSelect.
This is a Sancerre that reminds you, in no uncertain terms, that Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc is still the ultimate Sauvignon Blanc—not simply an aromatic, refreshing ‘bistro wine’ but part of the world’s white-wine elite. The structure and complexity on display in this 2014 rivals anything from Burgundy, or the Mosel, or anyplace else world-class whites are made. I feel like Sancerre is often excluded from discussions of “cellar-worthy” white wines—how else to explain why this wine costs only $35? This is the third (and most impressive) vintage of “Les Herses” we’ve offered, and if you haven’t yet experienced this charmed combination of producer and site, I urge you to do so now. This is a seriously under-valued white wine that will age for a decade with ease.
Sancerre has a relatively diverse collection of soil types, and while the practice of bottling “single-vineyard” wines isn’t as developed here as it is in Burgundy, there are some famous lieu-dits (named vineyards) throughout Sancerre. Perhaps the best known of these are “Les Monts Damnés” in the village of Chavignol, an oft-cited vineyard known for its Kimmeridgian limestone/clay mix (terres blanches); and “Chêne Marchand” in Bué, known for a stonier limestone called caillottes. I’d put Gitton’s “Les Herses” in their company, as a prime example of the third major soil type in Sancerre—flint, a.k.a. silex. It’s right there in capital letters on the wine’s label, and it’s right there in the glass in the form of dense structure and smoky minerality.
At the end of World War II, Marcel Gitton established his domaine with the purchase of a mere half-hectare along the snaking riverbanks of the Loire. It has since been passed down to his son, Pascal, who has grown the family’s holdings in Sancerre to 27 hectares, with a focus on soil-specific, single-vineyard bottlings. The vines of “Les Herses” range from 45-55 years of age on an east-facing slope in Ménétréol. Gitton’s home base and a village known for its heavy concentration of silex. This rough and pitched terrain makes the vines struggle for nourishment, even in great growing seasons like 2014. Noting the vintage, one Loire producer suggested, “…you'd need to work hard to make a bad wine this year,” and if that’s the maxim, work must have come effortlessly for Pascal Gitton. The grapes for “Les Herses” are always hand-harvested, fermented on native yeasts in stainless steel, and aged for 10 months in neutral 150-gallon oak casks (roughly the size of two-and-a-half standard barriques). If you were fortunate enough to taste the 2013 we offered a little over a year ago, I suggest you pull the trigger again—the 2014 takes it up a notch in terms of depth and structure.
The 2014 Gitton “Les Herses” has a brilliant straw yellow core leading to green and silver reflections at the rim. The nose expresses itself vibrantly, with ripe green apple, white peach skin, lemon meringue, and hints of sun kissed tropical fruits. The wine is simultaneously savory, spicy even, with notes of wild chives, dried thyme, and basil. On entry, the wine is downright electric, with a fascinating combination of viscosity and gripping minerality—it is powerful, for sure, but not austere or forbidding, with lots of richness for drinking now. For best results with this wine, decant it about 30 minutes before serving in larger-sized white wine glass or Burgundy stems (to facilitate energetic swirling!). Let it come up to cellar temperature, 55 degrees or thereabouts, and you’ll feel it blossom both aromatically and texturally. Its steely minerality and cleansing acidity make it a natural choice for aged Loire Valley goat’s milk cheeses like Crottin de Chavignol, perhaps incorporated into a zippy, mouth-watering salad as in the attached recipe. And while I’d highly recommend this pairing soon, I’d also suggest losing a few bottles of this wine in your cellar. When this wine reaches its 10th birthday, it should be something to behold. Cheers!
