Claude Riffault Sancerre Monoparcelle 538 2020 (750ML)

96-97 WA / 96 VM

The intensely yellow-colored 2020 Sancerre Monoparcelle 538 shows a rich, fresh, mineral and intense sur lie bouquet. It is from a southeast- to south-facing 0.44-hectare plot with 48-year-old vines rooting in extremely shallow Kimmeridgian limestone soils at 260 meters in altitude. The bouquet reveals lemon and iodine aromas of melting stones and comes along pretty much like a great wine from Burgundy. It is lush and intense yet also refined and elegant on the palate, with lychee notes at this early stage (lychee seems to be a Riffault signature flavor of the vintage). This is a pure, persistently salty and penetrating mineral Sancerre with firm but fine tannins, ripe acidity and a long, textured and even fruity finish. This is, again, a very promising, incredibly long and complex yet still somewhat austere (but so tensioned) Monoparcelle. Tasted as a sample in January 2022. To be bottled in March this year.—Stephn Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate

The 2020 Sancerre Monoparcelle 538 is a full bodied, mouth filling Sancerre that's richly textured and deeply satisfying, reflecting both the old vines and the ripe vintage. A dill-like note courses through the wine's core, but this is not an exotic or aromatic Sancerre, focusing on savoriness, texture and a Zen-like meditative state. There's mouthcoating texture and a seemingly tannic character that is likely the limestone giving the mouth an assured clasp on the long, herbal finish. -- Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous Media