Wawawiwa! What a Black Friday that was. When your haul lands from the Cellar Stocker Event it’ll keep you busy organizing that stash for a while…

Now what do we do? What else can we declare today, but…

Sancerre Saturday featuring a 93-point, salivary gland inducing gem for a head-spinning $15!

Yes, that ubiquitous, electric white from the land of goat cheeses of splendor and white chateaux of glory, the Loire Valley, lovingly savored as one of the most popular wines all around the globe.

Its laser-like precision, its unmatched ability to reflect chalky minerality, and versatility to enhance many a daring cuisine has made it so immensely cherished that prices rose disproportionally, as the quality of your average Sancerre started to decline. It’s increasingly challenging to find a knock your socks off example typical of why the wine world originally fell in love with this place and its wines in the first place, especially one that is beyond reasonably priced. Until now.

Fifteen bucks. For a rockin’ Frenchie that’ll send tantalizing sizzles up and down your spine as the most purity driven rendition of Sauvignon Blanc grown on the planet. Tastings awarded it Best Sancerre for a reason, calling it “enormously fruit-focused” and IWR nailed it with “a simply gorgeous Sancerre.”

Even looking at the glass is joyful. A bright straw blond glimmers with platinum streaks. The perfume fills the air with notions of citrus pith, limeade, crushed rocks, and a touch of gunflint. The palate is borderline tropical, and strikingly crisp with a nervy intensity that exudes freshness and liveliness. A round, creamy feel wraps up the long finish that resonates long with laser-like precision. Can’t think of a better wine to sip and savor with lavish seafood, be it raw, barely marinated, or simmered in cream, this will elevate the experience to new heights.

As Antonio Galloni’s Vinous brilliantly points out “lovers of brisk, nervy, dry white wines who feel forced out of their traditional hunting grounds by the growing number of outsized, alarmingly sweet bottlings can, at least for now, find plenty of options in the eastern Loire Valley’s Sancerre” this super dry, yet explosively fruity, seriously playful white is exactly why this region DEFINES Sauvignon Blanc.

And how about $15 vs. the original $45? That’s like 3 for 1 dear Operatives, you don’t want to wrap up this rollercoaster of a year without this.

93 Points / Best Sancerre Award – Tastings

“Straw green color. Citrusy aromas of fresh grapefruit zest and fresh summer peaches, toasted macadamia nut, lime blossom, and sweet grass with a round, lively, fruity light-to-medium body and a graceful, engaging, medium-long passionfruit, brazil nut, jasmine, and limestone and sea-breeze finish with fine, fruit tannins and a suggestion of oak flavor. An enormously fruit-focused Sancerre balanced by zingy acidity.”

92 Points – International Wine Report

“The 2016 ‘Les Belles Côtes’ Sancerre is another lovely showing from Roger and Didier Raimbault. Sourced from limestone and clay-limestone (Kimmeridgian marl) soils, this Sancerre opens to bright aromas of white peaches, honeydew melon, gooseberry, citrus zest and crushed slate, which all emerge beautifully from the glass. Balanced and precise, this continues to impress as it showcases a wonderful combination of richness and vibrancy, while displaying lovely elegance and definition through the mineral-laced finish. Overall, this is a simply gorgeous Sancerre which is already showing extremely well. Best 2017-2020.”