Domaine Alphonse Mellot - Sancerre - Generation XIX - red - 2015 - 750 ml
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WHAT THE WINEMAKERS ARE SAYING
“Mellot's 2015 Sancerre Génération XIX Red has become an amazing Pinot Noir. Dark in its ruby color and with a brightening rim, the bouquet reveals a deep, pure, intense and slightly reductive but precise bouquet with spicy notes of sour cherries, crushed stones and iron, iodine, flint, toast, graphite, herbs and, with aeration, dried porcini. This 2015 is linear and elegant but also already complex on the nose. The palate is dense and intense and reveals a full-bodied, lush and sweet yet spicy, tart and refreshing red that shows a silky texture with great mineral energy and intensity packed by very fine tannins, stimulating salts and a long and forceful yet also finessed and vital finish. Still young, the 2015 promises remarkable aging potential. It is possibly one of the most exciting red Sancerres I have tasted so far (January/February 2021). The combination of purity, freshness, finesse and masculine power with tension is thoroughly fascinating yet possibly not everybody's cup of tea." 94 points, Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate
"'Ask it for everything, and it can give you everything... Beautiful ruby red colour, firm and deep - ripe appearance. Its nose is rich and complex. This wine is seductive, packed with culture and very distinctive, plucking for our pleasure mulberries, bilberries and Morello cherries and offers us Eastern spices - pink peppercorns, vanilla and cinnamon on a crisp background. The taste is seductive and very full. Predominantly well balanced, the effect is powerful and rich in alcohol; it surrounds and covers. The fruit and spices go with a fine woody with ripe tannins. A great wine...” Alphonse Mellot
OUR NOTES
Sancerre is first and foremost an isolated hill that rises up in the middle of a serene landscape bathed by the soft light of the Loire river. As far back as the XVI century, in 1513 to be exact, the local records mention the Mellot family, whose life even at that time was governed by the seasons of the vine and the production of wines of excellent quality. At the beginning of the XIX century, Alphonse Mellot founded a tavern in Sancerre where one could savour the local wines and so began a flourishing trade that was to continue. Today, this century old winemaking tradition is perpetuated by Alphonse Mellot, father and son, the 18th and 19th to bear the name.
The wines are produced from the upper Sancerre vineyard, the most famous of which is the Domaine La Moussière. Its exceptional quality has led to it being officially classified as a unique category amongst the Sancerre wines. The Domaine comprises one single vineyard of over thirty hectares.
TECHNICAL SHEET
Grape variety: Pinot Noir
Area: 1 ha
Exposition: Southeast
Soil: Saint-Doulchard marls (solids lumps)
Subsoil: Upper Lusitanian to Portlandian period cretaceous
Planting density: 10 000 vinestocks / ha
Harvesting: The Génération XIX Vintage has been produced for 62 years on a parcel of land (Chambratte and Paradis). It is picked by hand in small 25 Kg boxes. Thanks to a vibrating table followed by a sorting table, all grapes have been sorted, stemmed and transported into the wine vats by conveyor belt. It is fermented in 45 hl truncated wooden vats.
Average yield: 21 hl/ha
Viticulture: The vines are pruned by the simple Guyot method. The vineyard is trained in organic and biodynamic vine growing.
Winemaking: Cold maceration is carried out for 8 to 12 days then fermentation starts. During this time, the cap of skins is punched and a little must is added (about once a day). Fermentation temperatures do not exceed 28°C to retain all the Pinot Noir aromas. Fermentation lasts on average 4 weeks. It is taken from the vats by conveyor and then delicately pressed. Press wine is blended with free run wine or made into wine separately. All the wine is pumped straight into casks for malolactic fermentation after settling.
Ageing: In new casks for 14 months on average
Production: About 2800 bottles
Pairing: Eggs poached in red wine with bacon and onions, mushrooms fricassee, eels cooked in red wine "à la Charentaise", fresh water pike-perch and catfish cooked with grapes, …