Sommelier Profile
Vincent Pinard Sancerre 'Florès'
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Luminously pale gold in the glass with the faintest silver rim, this is a Sancerre of uncommon precision and depth. The palate is taut and vibrantly structured, with razor-sharp acidity that carries flavours of yuzu, green apple, and white peach effortlessly from entry to finish. A distinctive saline, almost oyster-shell quality — the unmistakable signature of flint-rich soils — threads through the mid-palate with quiet authority. The finish is long, cool, and mineral-driven, leaving a persistent impression of lemon curd and crushed stone that invites the next sip immediately.
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Sancerre sits on the eastern edge of the Loire Valley in the Centre-Loire sub-region, where the river bends dramatically and vineyards cascade across steep hillsides at elevations ranging from 200 to 400 metres. The continental climate — cold winters, warm summers, and crisp autumns — concentrates aromatics and preserves natural acidity with exceptional elegance. Vincent Pinard's domaine is centred in the village of Bué, one of Sancerre's most celebrated communes, whose south and southeast-facing slopes are considered among the appellation's finest terroirs.
Sauvignon Blanc 100%
Sauvignon Blanc here is a world apart from its New World expressions — centuries of selection in the Loire's continental soils have evolved a biotype of extraordinary tension and precision, delivering vibrant citrus, flint, and herbal complexity rather than tropical exuberance. In Bué's hands, the grape achieves a crystalline purity and mineral salinity that speak unmistakably of chalky limestone and ancient clay.
The 'Florès' cuvée draws from old vines planted on Sancerre's celebrated silex (flint) and terres blanches (Kimmeridgian limestone-clay) soils, harvested by hand at optimal phenolic ripeness. Fermentation takes place in a combination of stainless steel and old Burgundian demi-muids, allowing the fruit's natural integrity to shine without imposing new oak character. The wine undergoes extended lees aging of approximately eight to ten months, lending texture and complexity while maintaining the appellation's signature vivacity.
The aromatic arc moves from an electric, primary citrus and herbal freshness on opening through a seductive secondary layer of stone fruit and blossom, before resolving into the domaine's hallmark smoky, gunflint minerality that lingers long after the glass is set down.
Vincent Pinard is widely regarded as one of Sancerre's finest artisan producers, having quietly built a reputation for wines of extraordinary site-fidelity and longevity in a region often underestimated for ageing potential. The 'Florès' cuvée, blended across the domaine's best parcels, represents the house's benchmark white and rewards three to seven years of patient cellaring, during which the flint minerality deepens and integrates magnificently. At the table, it is a natural companion to Crottin de Chavignol — the local goat's cheese — as well as grilled river trout, oysters on the half-shell, and delicate herb-crusted sea bass.