Les Caillottes Sancerre
Sauvignon Blanc
377002756878
The classic match is goat cheese, especially Crottin de Chavignol from the village next door. The wine’s acidity cuts through the creaminess while its citrus and grassy notes echo the cheese. Young goat cheeses and some blues work in the same way. Seafood is the other great pairing: oysters and other shellfish, grilled or simply cooked fish such as trout.
The nose is delicate but distinctly Sancerre: Meyer lemon, pink grapefruit, gooseberry, and a touch of fresh grass or nettle, framed by chalk, white flowers, and sometimes hawthorn or a hint of rhubarb. On the palate it is dry and steely, with concentrated citrus and orchard fruit, a chalky mineral thread, and lively acidity that keeps everything taut and refreshing. The texture can feel both crisp and slightly unctuous, and the finish is long, saline, and mineral, with lingering lemon, grapefruit, and wet-stone notes. Serve it cool, around 50–54°F, to keep that brightness and minerality in focus
Les Caillottes” refers to the region’s Oxfordian limestone-pebble soils one of Sancerre’s three main terroirs, alongside the clay-rich terres blanches to the west and flinty silex closer to the river. These soils cover about 40% of the appellation and sit mainly in the central belt between the western hills and the town itself, in villages such as Bué, Amigny, Sancerre, Verdigny, and Vinon. The surface is a bed of small white limestone stones shattered by frost; they drain quickly, warm early, and bounce sunlight back onto the vines, so the grapes ripen a little sooner than on cooler, clayier slopes.