Sancerre rouge "Les Herses" AOC 2021

A red wine from Sancerre built on finesse: pale cherry red, a subtle bouquet, a lean body at 12.5 percent alcohol. The nose shows cherry and cherry stone, along with foliage and wild Mediterranean herbs that only hint at themselves.

0.98 hectares of Pinot Noir in the lieu-dit Les Herses, facing southeast, on stony flint soil. The vines average 45 years of age, with 7,700 vines per hectare, yielding 40 hectolitres. Matthias Planchon has farmed his 5.5 hectares across ten parcels biodynamically since 2018, bottling each site separately.

Hand-harvested, followed by two to three days of cold maceration with 30 percent whole clusters and 70 percent destemmed berries. Three weeks of maceration on the skins with gentle pump-overs, low-pressure pressing, with free-run and press juice blended together. Malolactic fermentation takes place in ceramic tanks and, for half the wine, in 228-litre wooden barrels on the fine lees, after which the wine continues ageing in stainless steel to preserve its freshness. Bottling follows the lunar cycle.

Juicy and full of finesse, with polished tannins and a mineral-saline character that Matthias Planchon calls "l'eau de roche", rock water. Lively acidity, delicate fruit sweetness, a long, cool finish.

For a vegetarian option, salad of Brussels sprout leaves with pomegranate seeds; with fish, brook trout with beetroot, raspberry and tarragon; with meat, baked calf's head with onions glazed in Pinot Noir.

The Planchon family has farmed vineyards in Sancerre since 1573; Jules Émile Planchon discovered phylloxera in 1868 and saved European viticulture by grafting vines onto American rootstock. Matthias Planchon took over the family's vineyards in 2012 and bottled his first own vintage in 2019. Today, 22,000 bottles a year leave the cellar, located in the heart of the lieu-dit Le Paradis. The label reads "Vin Bio et Biodynamique, cultivé sur sols vifs" alongside the AB and EU organic certification marks.