100% Sauvignon Blanc

Food pairings: Seafood and shellfish, poultry, pork, and fresh goat cheese.

Winemaking: Grapes are picked fully ripe and pressed gently in a pneumatic press. The juice is held at a very low temperature for five days to build flavor and keep its freshness, then fermented with native, ambient yeasts, with non-aromatic cultured yeast added only as needed. The wine spends several months on its lees.

Vineyards and terroir: The vines are not irrigated, so they grow slowly and become hardy, and they are trained low, with the grapes no more than a foot above the stony soils to soak up the warmth radiating from the stones. The cool nights of this northern setting keep the acidity fresh even in ripe vintages.

Family and history: La Cave des Vins de Sancerre, founded in 1963, is the first and only growers' cooperative in the appellation. Its growers are spread across 12 villages, giving it access to the full range of Sancerre terroirs, from clay and limestone to flint and caillottes.