From nearly 90 year old vines in Mellot’s La Moussiere and fermented in tapered wooden vat, the white 2008 Sancerre Generation XIX is pungently redolent of fresh lemon and parsnip, caraway, narcissus, parsley, and nettle. Firm and almost explosively bright on the palate, its citrus is mingled with bitter notes of zest, parsnip and caraway as well as a resinous element of barrel, but that does not dry the wine out. Instead, this is about as brashly, penetratingly juicy a Sauvignon as one could want, but one whose message – even allowing for impressions of salt and chalk – seems to me largely confined to a rather narrowly tart, pungent, umbelliferous (i.e. parsley-, parsnip-like) band width. It would however be very interesting to see how this strident Sancerre evolves over the next several years. Forty year old Alphonse Mellot has now spent half his life running the domaine of his eponymous father and grandfather, in the process acquiring an enviable reputation, almost as much for his Pinots as for his Sauvignons. I regret – especially in view of my reservations (detailed in the tasting notes) about his approach – my not having had time to visit him this year, which explains the absence of a report from barrel on his 2009 reds or on all but two of his 2009 whites. (Incidentally, I do not recommend that any similarly skeptical tasters linger at Mellot’s web site, whose over-the-top wine descriptions outdo an already more than ambitious-enough reality, thus doing neither him nor us any favors.)Various importers including Domaine Select, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799; Boutique Wine Collection, Philadelphia, PA (914) 954-6583; and Elite Wines, Lorton, VA; tel. (703) 339 8150
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