Gerard & Pierre Morin Vieille Vignes Sancerre 2024 - 750ml

Winemaker Notes

Organically-farmed. 100% Sauvignon Blanc. Vine-age is about 40 years-old, mainly from chalky soils (caillottes) along with some terres blanches soil. Hand-harvested and bottled without filtration. This old-vine bottling is the paradigm of Sancerre: ripe and complex on the nose; concentrated and profound on the palate with a perfect mosaic of fruit and mineral tones and an exquisite finish. For all wines in all vintages, Morin practices Lutte Raisonee farming of the vines, never using herbicides or chemical fertilizers.

Pierre Morin took over from his father, Gerard, in 2004, and has continued the family's traditions in the vineyards and the cellar. He harkens back to the past with the certainty that great wine can only be made from low yields and grapes harvested by hand.

Winery Notes

Gérard Morin took over the family’s 1½ hectares of vineyard about twenty years ago and his son, Pierre has been gradually eased into the front line and now runs the show. More cosmopolitan, perhaps, than his father he spent time in Australia’s Adelaide Hills (where he saw nothing to make him revise any of his winemaking practices) and at Domaine Dujac. His time there reflects his enthusiasm for pinot noir and explains the wine’s typically intense style. Meanwhile the estate has grown to a more comfortable nine hectares. These consist of seven of sauvignon blanc and two of pinot noir planted on crus such as Les Châteaux and Crépon, amongst the finest and steepest of Bué.

With their vines planted on the steep hard-calcaire amphitheatre of vineyards that surround the commune of Bué, three kilometres from Sancerre, Gérard and Pierre make rich, aromatic Sancerres and some particularly deep reds. Yields are held low through a spring de-budding (one of Pierre’s main changes) and harvesting is by hand. Fermentations are by parcel in an air-conditioned chai in enamelled steel vats with the finished wines left alone on their lees for as long as possible.