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2019-2021 Domaine Claude Riffault

"A shining star in Sancerre"

- Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous Media

2021 Claude Riffault Sancerre Les Chailloux

95 WA / 93 VM

$56.89/bottle (Pre-Arrival) - Buy Now

"Stéphane Riffault has presented another great vintage after the superb 2019s." - Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate

Stéphane Riffault (Claude’s son and now the owner of the estate) is turning out Sancerre wines to everyones attention. Having studied and worked in Burgundy (and closely with Olivier Leflaive), it’s easy to see the Burgundian influence in Stéphane’s wines. We're pleased to offer a limited selection of his exquisite cuvees from the 2019-2021 vintages, while supplies last...

"Claude Riffault is a shining star in Sancerre, producing suave, texturally intriguing and seemingly effortless wines. Stéphane Riffault joined the family business in 2001 and has been handed the keys to the estate in 2015. Riffault has implemented changes that have refined its wines starting with the move to hand harvesting in 2008. In 2013, the family moved its 15 hectares to organics, achieving certification in 2016 which led to biodynamic conversion, starting in 2018 (2021 was the first fully biodynamic harvest). All the white wines (it does have 2ha of Pinot Noir) are fermented and aged in large wood. Malolactic fermentation is always avoided and even its largest production wine – Les Boucauds – spends 10 months on lees, rising to 14 months for its single vineyards like Les Chasseignes, Les Denisottes and Les Chailloux, creating richly textured, lightly autolytic expressions. Most of the parcels are a theme on limestone but Les Chailloux is grown on flint and gives a more upright structure. The estate has recently introduced two ‘monoparcelles’ – tiny parcels that spend 18 months on lees. Monoparcelle 538 was formerly known as Les Desmalets. It is made in a structured style that deserves time in bottle. Every single cuvée, from its ‘entry-level’ Sancerre Blanc upwards would happily sit in my glass.” - Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous Media

2021 Claude Riffault Sancerre Les Chailloux

95 WA / 93 VM

$56.89 / 750ml (Pre-arrival) Buy Now

From almost 50-year-old vines in flint-stone soils, the 2021 Sancerre Les Chailloux opens with a clear and intense nose with pure mineral aromas of iodine and crushed flint stones, whereas the fruit aromas are very discreet but fully intermingle with the stones. On the palate, this is a very elegant and vivacious Sancerre with great tension, phenolic and mineral thrills as well as an almost-charming and refined fruit core. The acidity is lively and refined, and on the aftertaste, it's beautifully intertwined with the ripe, elegant yet discreet fruit and minerals. A very distinctive, savory and saline Sancerre with fine grip and citrus fruit bitters on the long and intense finish. This is probably the finest of the 2021 Riffault quintet tasted for this miscellaneous report. 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in March 2023.—Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate

2020 Claude Riffault Sancerre Les Chailloux

94+ WA / 94 VM

$56.89 / 750ml (Pre-Arrival) Buy Now

From 41- to 48-year-old vines on silex soils at 250 meters in altitude, Stéphan Riffault's 2020 Sancerre Les Chailloux shows a deep, complex and intensely mineral bouquet with ripe, intense, elegant and rather yellow-fleshed fruit aromas and iodine notes. Aged on the lees for more than a year prior to the bottling at the end 2021, this is a pure, dense and intense Sancerre with texture and generous physalis notes. There is a tropical sensation here, whereas the finish is coolish, flinty and full of tension. Fruits and minerals as well as structure and acidity are perfectly interwoven here. It is still tight and closed (if not austere) but a very promising and full-bodied wine. 14% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in January 2022.—Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate

2020 Claude Riffault Sancerre Les Denisottes

95 WA / 93 VM

$56.89 / 750ml (Pre-Arrival) Buy Now

Based on fruit from 41- to 54-year-old vines on extremely shallow Kimmeridgian soils in a southeast-facing cru at 260 meters in altitude, the 2020 Sancerre Les Denisottes is bright, pure and elegant yet also deep, dense and intense on the flinty-mineral nose that reveals iodine and crushed stone notes and is utterly fascinating. It doesn't show the warmth and richness of the vintage at this early stage but an exciting terroir and adapted winemaking. On the palate, this is a full-bodied, intense and concentrated, grippy and structured, never ending river of salts and gravels. The wine reveals gorgeous purity and is as dense and intense as it is firmly structured and persistently salty, with lots of terroir-driven finesse and energy. Only when the wine gets warmer, it reveals the same lychee nuances as Les Chailloux. Les Denisottes remains one of my personal favorites from the Sancerreois to have with oysters or scallops. 14% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in January 2022.—Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate

2019 Claude Riffault Sancerre Monoparcelle 538

95-96 WA / 95 VM

$59.89 / 750ml (Pre-arrival) Buy Now

Riffault's golden-yellow 2019 Sancerre Monoparcelle 538 is from a southeast to south-facing 0.44-hectare plot with 47-year-old vines rooting in extremely shallow Kimmeridgian limestone soils at 260 meters in altitude. Aged in oak for 18 months, this is a full-bodied, silky, rich and elegant but most of all tight and tensioned Sancerre with fine tannins, tonic lemon juice and lingering salinity with serious grip and Cointreau notes. The 2019 is still extremely young and sailing undercover over our palates. This might turn out as a giant in some years. To be bottled in March, tasted in February 2021.—Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate

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Sincerely,

Xavier Simental

Fine Wine Sales Associate