{"product_id":"jean-colin-sancerre-blanc-2024","title":"Jean Colin, Sancerre Rouge 2023","description":"\u003cp\u003eRed Sancerre is one of the best-kept secrets of the Loire Valley. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMade from 100% Pinot Noir, this is as Burgundian as you can imagine - full of forest-floor aromas and bursting with red fruits and juicy blackberries with superbly integrated spice and smoke. This is just classy winemaking, and at a time when French Pinot Noir is increasingly hard to come by, let alone afford, this is a wonderful revelation!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDelicious with a vast range of food, this is utterly wonderful with duck, weightier fish, game and mature cheeses. There is an elegance and refinement that serious Burgundy afficionados may detect that could betray it's Loire valley origin, but that's nothing to negate it as this is sheer joy to consume, seriously high high quality and worth its weight in gold. Plus, in a wonderful coup for lovers of fine wine, this beauty \u003cstrong\u003ehas \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eonly 13% alcohol\u003c\/strong\u003e, which is increasingly rare and to be greatly celebrated!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJean Colin was the maternal grandfather of Eric Louis, who I met in a wine fair about ten years ago. His winemaking partner is Sophie, who has much better English than Eric (and far better English than my French) so it was from her that I first bought these wines. As it turns out, she has a fine knack of making wines for Irish palates (her own name is on the O'Brien's Loire wines!) and was able to understand exactly what I was looking to achieve for my customers: really great quality across a range of appellations. Now, that's a high bar for most parts of France, but in the Loire, there's a good deal of scope and space for pretty much anything you fancy: all colours, all sweetness levels, still, sparkling and fortified to boot. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this regard Sophie and Eric are outstanding custodians of the region's many subzones and grape varieties, making really excellent representations of each of the styles that they know and love themselves. Being a regular kind of chap, I wanted to get some regular sort of options and bought Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé at first, but then moved to their Vin de France offerings (declassified village-level wines often made from younger vines) and was both reassured and revitalised! Here was French wine that is vibrant and approachable and affordable, I thought. and since then, I have bought from as many villages as they produce, in red, white and rosé.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe estate itself, from where the Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé and Menetou Salon wines are sourced, is the same set of vineyards that were planted by Jean Colin and his wife Pauline before the Second World War. One of the things that I love about the story here is that after the war, access to resources and equipment was scarce, meaning that compromises were often the order of the day and when it came to finding vessels to ferment and age the wines, there was little to no oak available to them for anything like a reasonable price. They used acacia wood instead and they \u003cem\u003estill do to this day\u003c\/em\u003e! Funnily enough, it is \u003cem\u003ebecause \u003c\/em\u003eof this wood that their wines retain their elegance, fruit characteristics and finesse (sure, imagine big oaky Sauvignon... no thanks!).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo do join us with friends and say \u003cem\u003esanté \u003c\/em\u003eto Eric and \u003cem\u003echeers \u003c\/em\u003eto Sophie as we continue to seek out the wonders of this very wonderful region: I really hope you enjoy them as much as I do, and even half as much as they have enjoyed making them!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Eric Louis","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59686155845966,"sku":"JCSCR","price":32.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/4082\/9106\/files\/6_971aea55-1691-4637-85fb-11756e260a49.png?v=1779101359","url":"https:\/\/www.theallotment.ie\/products\/jean-colin-sancerre-blanc-2024","provider":"The Allotment Wine Company","version":"1.0","type":"link"}