Domaine Vincent Pinard - Sancerre Le Château 2022

Bettane & Desseauve

About the domain :

Brothers Clément and Florent Pinard continue to keep their domaine at the pinnacle of success. With no sales agents or representatives, the range is sold to the finest Michelin-starred restaurants and export markets, satisfying a handful of loyal enthusiasts eager to taste their latest cuvées. Running their 17 hectares according to the principles of organic farming, without certification, biodynamic farming began in 2018. They deliver fine, delicate whites, and full-fruited reds, some of which are whole-harvested, propelling the Pinot into additional richness and complexity and placing them among the Loire's finest specimens. With little sulfur, hand-picked indigenous yeasts and a hand-picked harvest, everything is geared to excellence, and every detail is challenged with each new vintage. The eight whites, in particular, form a highly didactic interpretation of Bué's different terroirs, between different strata of limestone, silica and marl.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the wine:

Among the localities, Le Château respects its sunnier, more comfortable identity.

About the domain :

In the winegrowing village of Bué, the Pinard family has made its estate one of the most emblematic in Sancerre. With each passing vintage, brothers Florent and Clément constantly push back their limits to draw a relief of flavors ever closer to their terroirs, both in viticulture (organic conversion, yield control, optimal ripeness of grapes...) and in the cellar (working with yeast strains from their own vineyard for fermentations, lengthening maturation in demi-muid, reducing doses of volcanic sulfur...). Florès is an excellent introduction to this stylized, perfectly calibrated approach to whites. The intensity then rises with the cuvées that identify the different lieux-dits, from the saline, chiselled Petit Chemarin to the austere, elegant power of Chêne Marchand, not forgetting the comfortingly dense Le Château. The reds are not to be outdone, with increasingly well-defined, highly concentrated wines.

Vinous A. Galloni

About the wine:

Château 2022 is a finely balanced style that offers both tension and tenderness. Yes, the fruit is ripe with a lemony, elderflower nature, but it also retains a gentle freshness that is supported by a fine, chalky line and rich structure. The 2022 is a relatively quiet wine that will assert itself as it progresses in bottle.