From a warm 10-hectare slope on flinty soils, the 2021 Sancerre Le Rochoy Terroir de Silex shows an excitingly coolish, pure, refined and flinty-mineral bouquet of bright fruits, limes, white blossoms (elderflowers), crushed flint stones and hints of white and yellow stone fruits, cassis and elderberries. Medium to full-bodied, this is a fresh and energetic, juicy, piquant and persistently salty, remarkably complex Sancerre with grip and ripe but vivacious mineral acidity and tension. Sancerre for purists! 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in May 2022.

The well-balanced 2021 Rochoy has an attractively rich texture with hints of brioche in the long finish and has the potential to age well. Domaine Laporte was founded in 1850 in the commune of St-Satur. It now has 21ha and since 1986 has been owned by the Famille Bourgeois. Domaine Laporte has been certified organic since 2013. Its vineyards include a parcel called La Comtesse on the famous Monts Damnés above the village of Chavignol. Le Rochoy is a monopole and has a very flinty stony soil that makes this a warm vineyard. The grapes are picked by hand and vinified in stainless steel using indigenous yeasts.