2019 Claude Riffault Sancerre les Denisottes

Wine Advocate/Stephen Reinhardt 94 – “From 40- to 53-year-old vines in a southeast-facing vineyard at 260 meters in altitude where the vines root in pretty shallow Kimmeridgian soils (only 80 centimeters of topsoil), the 2019 Sancerre Les Denisottes opens deep, fresh and flinty on the coolish, dense and highly expressive nose that is fascinatingly complex and stony while the fruit remains in the background. Full-bodied, intense and tightly structured on the palate, this is a long, tight and very complex Sancerre with power, juice, extract, grip and a stimulatingly fine and salty finish. This is a deep, wide and generous as well as sustainable Sancerre of great class and youth. Highly promising. Take a Burgundy glass for this Denisottes that even reveals some gin and cucumber aromatics…Tasted in February 2021.

Domaine Claude Riffault has become one of my personal favorites of the AOP, and Stéphane’s style seems to be moving toward more textured wines, a result of the trend to use more oak. Stéphane’s brother is winemaker at the Domaine Étienne Sauzet in Puligny-Montrachet, and they might have an intense exchange about viticultural and winemaking techniques. I remember having tasted many wines grown predominantly or entirely in stainless steel years ago, and I also remember the transition to concrete vats and small barrels; these remain, but larger wooden casks are also in use today…a 20-hectolitre foudre…is the cask for the fantastic Sancerres Les Denisottes…Stéphane is not actively trying to make “wines that are counter to his appellation.” Instead, “he’s trying to push the boundaries as to what can be made in the appellation. For so long, Sancerre has been known as an appellation that produced simple, fresh wines, and he wants it to be known as one of the great terroirs of France, having the ability to produce ‘great white wines of stature and complexity.'” As such, Stéphane has been systematically tasting and speaking with great growers in Burgundy, Champagne, Alsace and Loire regions like Savennières to help him refine his style. “His primary references are in Burgundy where he has taken a lot of cues,” reports Headrick. However, he is quick to point out that “Stéphane is not trying to make a Burgundy wine in Sancerre and dislikes this terminology. He is, however, taking the best of the ideas that great domaines in Burgundy have to teach him and adapting those to Sauvignon Blanc, his appellation and his parcels. ”

One of the ways Riffault thinks he can produce great, gastronomic whites is to concentrate on extended lees aging. In fact, the “sur-lie” aging is much longer than it was before since “he believes that aging on the lees, and more lees, in wooden containers is one of the ways to achieve this.”

One could fear the power, richness and density of the 2019 vintage could have made the new wines from Stéphane Riffault too big, but in fact, he has mastered the challenge incredibly well and kept as much freshness as possible in his full-bodied, structured and sustainable wines while practicing this extended aging. In any case, you should use a big Burgundy glass for all of his wines, particularly for the 2019s—and let them breath enough air. I have the series over a week, and even after seven days, they deeply impressed me.”

Vinous/Rebecca Gibb 94 – “The 2019 Sancerre Les Denisottes lures you in with its deeply satisfying, mellow embrace. It fills the mouth with its nectarine and mandarin flavors as well as savory nuances derived from fermentation and maturation on lees in barrel; however, it is not heavy and gives the impression of floating as if it were a plump ghost. Despite a dry, hot season, the wine suggests that the old vines (40–50 years old) planted on Kimmeridgian marls have not suffered; if they did, they’re doing a pretty good job of hiding it. Lengthy and luxuriant.

A shining star in Sancerre, Claude Riffault is producing suave, texturally intriguing and seemingly effortless wines. Having joined the family business in 2001 and been handed the keys to the estate in 2015, Stéphane Riffault has implemented changes that have refined its wines starting with the move to hand harvesting in 2008. In 2013, the family moved its 15 hectares to organics, achieving certification in 2016. This led to biodynamic conversion starting in 2018, and 2020 was the first fully biodynamic harvest. All the white wines (it does have 2ha of Pinot Noir) are fermented and aged in large wood. Malolactic fermentation is always avoided, and even its largest production wine, Les Boucauds, spends 10 months on lees. Time on lees rises to 14 months for the single vineyard Les Chasseignes, Les Denisottes and Les Chailloux, creating richly textured, lightly autolytic expressions. Most of the parcels are a theme on limestone…Every single cuvée, from its ‘entry-level’ Sancerre Blanc upwards would happily sit in my glass.”