100% Sauvignon Blanc

Food pairings: Shellfish, seafood, and goat cheese.

Winemaking: Grapes arrive in wagons that empty by gravity into a three-level winery, where parcels are sorted without crushing and kept separate. The juice flows by gravity to the presses and is fractioned in the Champagne manner, then clarified with temperature control. Fermentation lasts six to eight weeks in thermostatically controlled stainless-steel vats, followed by three to six months on the lees with regular stirring. The wine never sees oak, to preserve the natural aromas of the grape.

Vineyards and terroir: The grapes come from the Sancerre villages of Bué, Chaudoux, Chavignol and Verdigny, from vines 25 to 35 years old, about 30 on average, on clay, limestone and silica soils.

Family and history: Comte Lafond, an ancestor of Baron Patrick de Ladoucette, came from Burgundy and was the first of the family to buy vineyards in the Loire, in the 18th century. The wine is bottled by de Ladoucette at Château du Nozet in Pouilly-sur-Loire.