If single-site wines are rare as hen’s teeth in Touraine, this incisive Sauvignon Blanc makes a compelling case. A step up from the Ancorage label, it is drawn from vines aged between 20 and 50 years in the west-facing terroir of Les Puits aux Chiens. Situated on the right bank of the Cher River, it’s the highest point of the commune of Noyers, a cool terroir with shallow flint sands and white clay over Turonian limestone rock.
In the cellar, the grapes were pressed as whole bunches and fermented with indigenous yeasts in a selection of used barrels ranging from 228 to 500 litres. These vessels include those made using oak staves from the nearby Loches forest, selected and aged by Valentin Desloges himself (and coopered by François Frères). The wine aged for 12 months with a single racking and plenty of lees contact. It was bottled by gravity without filtration.
Twenty-twenty three was a beautiful year for Valentin Desloges, and many Sancerre or Pouilly Fume producers would be delighted to have this as their top cuvée. Free from obvious varietal flavours, it’s an incredibly focused, limpid, penetrating Sauvignon and, like all this grower’s whites, built around texture and detail rather than typicity. It’s so beautifully made, combining potent saline minerality with a silky depth that points to Valentin’s exceptional terroir.