Vividly chiseled, limestone-soaked Sancerre is one of the wine world’s greatest joys. Sadly, in an era of warmer vintages, those “eureka!” moments are becoming increasingly rare. That is, until you come across producers like B. Millet. Their 2020 “Le Chemin Blanc” Sancerre, with its perfect marriage of joyful ripeness and scintillating minerality, lit up the SommSelect offices and felt like the return of an old friend—only this friend is more beautiful, insightful, and downright stimulating to be around than you ever remembered.
There can be no doubt upon tasting this: Sancerre is home to some of the best white wine terroir on the planet, and bottles like this emphatically remind you about its lofty position in the pecking order. Betty and Franck Millet are a super duo of Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc know-how, and they’ve turned out what might be our new benchmark for value Sancerre. If you’re looking to stretch your wine dollar as far as you possibly can, look no further. At this price point, it simply doesn’t get more world-class, more genre-defining than B. Millet’s “Le Chemin Blanc!” Or maybe it does? See the below note…
NOTE: Across the river from Sancerre lies the equally exciting Sauvignon Blanc appellation of Pouilly-Fumé, home to one of our all-time favorite value producers, Francis Blanchet. Today, we also have his 2020 “Kriotine” for you all to enjoy, available here. I recommend purchasing both and opening them together for an exceedingly delicious and memorable terroir face-off!
We should’ve known we were in for a taste of greatness when we saw the name “Millet” on the bottle. But we didn’t know B. Millet. Franck Millet, sure. He’s one of the current greats of Sancerre, every vintage inching closer to Sauvignon Blanc legends like the Cotat cousins. Well, as it turns out, the “B.” stands for “Betty,” who just so happens to be Franck’s wife. The top-notch estate Franck now runs was in fact inherited from Betty’s family. While most of his wines are bottled under his own name, the couple continues to release this cuvée under Betty’s initials to honor her lineage.
It’s a rather unfortunate state of affairs, but the truth is that Sancerre has been a victim of its own success. It’s one of the only villages in the world to really break into the mainstream, not just with wine lovers but with the public at large. This has meant a great deal of deserved attention for these singular wines, but there’s a flipside. So successful a “brand” is Sancerre that the village is now filled with producers content to rest on their laurels and let name recognition move their wine for them. Not so with Franck and Betty Millet.
This power couple farms over 20 hectares across three of the best villages in the world for Sauvignon Blanc: Sancerre, Menetou-Salon, and Pouilly-Fumé. They eschew pesticides and herbicides except in emergencies, and they ferment their Sancerre in stainless to accent its bright fruit and rocky core. “Le Chemin Blanc” translates to “the white road,” a reference to the chalky white, Kimmeridgian soils the vines grow in. This is actually the same band of limestone responsible for the powerful minerality of great Chablis. That kinship is palpable in the first, stone-laden sip.
B. Millet’s 2020 “Le Chemin Blanc” pours a crystalline pale straw, moving toward a green and silver rim. The aromas are pitch-perfect Sancerre: white grapefruit, lemon peel, fresh green apple, passionfruit, gooseberry, and barely ripe peach. While it’s ripe and full, it’s also perfectly in balance. Many producers in Sancerre are leaning toward ever-higher ripeness and opulent textures, but the Millets keep it fresh and old school. The palate screams with pulverized rocks, chalk dust, lemongrass, lime zest, white flowers, and crushed oyster shells. Serve this at 50 degrees in all-purpose stems, alongside something spring-ready and studded with goat cheese. After the first glass, you’ll be warmly welcoming Sancerre back into your life just as we did. Enjoy now through 2023.
