Domaine du Pré Semelé – Sancerre Blanc “Mainbrè” 75 cl.

Julien & Clément Raimbault 2023
Sancerre ‘Mainbré’ is Domaine du Pré Sémelé’s convincing vinous calling card from the catchment to the village whose fields form the basis of the wine.

Domaine du Pré Semelé is a small, family-owned vineyard located approx. 5 km north of Sancerre town, where the 4th generation is today at the helm.
The new generation has given the wines a noticeable boost, and 2023 is the first vintage to be certified organic.
Julién and Clément Raimbault own 20 hectares of land divided into two soil types: approx. 12 hectares of kimmeridge limestone marl (‘terre blanche), the light soil with a high content of fossils and approx. 8 hectares with the darker portland with small, not so hard limestones in a calcareous clay soil (‘caillotes’).

The grapes are harvested manually so that the bunches remain intact before vinification. In this cuvée, Sancerre Mainbré, the grapes are macerated and gently membrane-pressed for a few hours. It is then cold-fermented with the natural yeast for 4-6 weeks on stainless steel until the wine is fermented dry, after which it is further stored in a steel tank together with the yeast until the spring after the harvest, when the wine is racked, filtered, clarified and bottled according to the lunar calendar.

This is precise and chiseled sancerre with an elegant, fresh and crisp stature; i.e. sauvignon blanc precision with excellent purity, crisp acidity and an aromatic excess of citrus, gooseberry, grass, blackcurrant leaf and nettle.
Enjoy good sancerre wines like this in spacious white wine glasses at 9-13° – either as an aperitif (coolest) or as a versatile food wine (12-13°); salad with baked goat’s cheese is the classic, but it is also good for not too heavy dishes with fish and shellfish, including sushi.

While this is the style that the majority of sancerre fans swear by, there is also the single-field wine ‘le Cotelin’, which ages at oak and amphora, if you want more fullness, depth and storage capacity of your sancerre. More ambitious on all parameters, including the price…