Sancerre
Discover the Sancerre appellation
Here's one of the most famous French wine regions. The Sancerre wine officially became an AOC in 1936, although its presence in the Centre-Val de Loire region is much older than that. During the Late Antiquity period, the Sancerre vineyard located around the eponymous village, was already well-known for its wine production. The writer Saint Gregory of Tours (539-594 AD) mentioned this information many times in a work of his, published in 582. Some feudal laws also referred to the vineyard around the 9th century.
During the 12th century, the Sancerre vineyard's reputation skyrocketed. Thanks to the local Augustinian monks, who cultivated grapevines tirelessly, the red wine made with Pinot Noir grapes (the only variety that was planted in the Sancerre vineyard back then) was a huge hit at the time. Many years later, the 1886 phylloxera crisis completely destroyed the grapevines of the region, forcing the winemakers to replant everything. Only this time, they chose another variety of grapes: the Sauvignon. More resistant to cold weather and illnesses, it became a logical trademark in Sancerre.
Today, the Sancerre vineyard has a total surface area of 3,000 hectares, cultivated by more than 300 different wine estates and winemakers. The vine stocks are planted in a soil made of limestone, clay and silica. A lot of microclimates can be found in the Sancerre vineyard, due to its particular terrain. 75% of the total output is used to make white wine, and 60% of the production is destined to be exported worldwide.
Browse our selection of Sancerre wines.
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