Serge Laloue "Cuvée Silex" Sancerre Blanc 2023

This is a lively and aromatically expressive Sancerre Blanc. Grown on pure silex (flint) soils just outside the village of Thauvenay, Cuvée Silex is the most mineral-driven bottling from Domaine Serge Laloue, a family estate known for quietly producing some of the most focused, soil-transparent Sancerres in the region. The 2023 vintage continues that thread, delivering a wine that feels more carved than made.

From plots on each of the region’s three renowned soil types, it opens with cool citrus—lime peel, green apple, a hint of white flowers. The nose is expressive and delicate with aromas of citrus fruits (orange, grapefruit). The attack is frank, the mouth offers a fleshy tension. The texture is taut, linear and laced with that unmistakable flinty tension that silex soils impart. Fruit enlivens the whole (orange wedge, lemon), with a long return to passion fruit and floral notes that linger on the long finish.

Occupying prime real estate in the Loire Valley, the Laloue family's land contains a mix of soils that Sancerre winemakers dream about, but it wasn’t always covered in vineyards. In the 1930s, grapes were just a small part of Francois and Simone Laloue’s livelihood, along with grain, tobacco and livestock. It wasn’t until their son Serge gave up polyculture to pursue viticulture exclusively that the estate took full advantage of the Terre Blanche, Caillotes and Silex beneath their feet. In 1990, Serge’s oldest son Franck joined the venture, his daughter Christine followed in 1998, and his youngest, Clément, came aboard in 2021. Since Serge’s passing in 2006, his children have carried on his vision.