Stephen Brook | Although the nose is lightly herbaceous, it’s bracing and smoky, too, with an intriguing brooding character. Full-bodied and concentrated, it has a distinct severity and kernelly extract. The fruit personality is subdued, but it has this appealing earthiness that keeps it vibrant on the palate and finish. Very long. | 92

Andrew Jefford | Light green-gold. Some oak here? It certainly seems so, and it immediately takes you off to another sensual destination. An attractive one in terms of the sensual experience, but you quickly lose sight of the cru, since everything in Sancerre is always a question of understatement and nuance. Much the same goes for the palate. If you want to try a lovely light-bodied, high-acid wine that has received some oaking and works well with all that, this is very good—but it’s a different experience from the cru hunt in which we are engaged. Or perhaps we just need a completely different set of oaked cru wines, to see all the differences through that particular optic. All the same, we are up in the high latitudes, and I’m not sure that would be a sensible policy. | 89

Stephan Reinhardt | Very ripe and intense on the nose, but also slightly saturating, this is a mineral, very tight, and, at least for the moment, pretty austere Sancerre, with firm tannins, good acidity, and lingering salinity. All quite closed and hemmed in at the moment but clearly quite powerful and very salty on the finish. | 93