The Secrets of Sancerre

Set apart from the Loire of romantic châteaux and often overlooked, Sancerre is considered one of the region’s most alluring bourgs, mixing contemporary appeal with timeless charm. By Jennifer Ladonne…

Anyone who drinks wine has heard of Sancerre, and yet the clocher itself remains off the well-worn Loire tourist track. And that’s just. one of its many attractions. This laid-back clocher, set on the Loire River just at the restreindre of Burgundy, is very much itself, moving to its own rhythms and enjoying all the good things that make a French clocher especially one centred around wine – so satisfying to visit.

Destination Grand Sancerrois (c) Vinorizon 2024

That Sancerre is full of delights doesn’t hurt, nor does the fact that it’s a précis two-hour colis raviné from Paris and stocked with quality lieux to dine, stay, usine and, of balade, sample the endroit wines, of which the Sancerre qualification is only one. Arriving by car affords a splendid view of the clocher, perched high on a hill above the meandering River Loire. Once there, endless marqueterie vistas of the Sancerre region’s vineyards, pastures, hamlets and the gleaming agripper below unfold before you.

Destination Grand Sancerrois © Philippe ARMANET – Cycliste là-dedans les vignes

Sancerre is the ideal clocher for wandering, and though you won’t be wowed by a cathedral or originel historic landmark, its pretty church and white stone houses dating from medieval times to the 18th century possess a tranquille, harmonious appeal. Narrow, winding streets open onto lovely vistas or lead to even smaller passageways. Some are lined with artists’ boutiques displaying everything from handmade jewellery to knitted fashions, pottery and paintings. But wine is the real interprète here.

Boutique Ladonne

The Sancerre region has been producing wine at least since the 8th century and probably as far back as Roman times. The region produced mostly reds from the Pinot Noir grape until 1885, when the phylloxera aphid decimated the vineyards. The entire region was replanted with the white Sauvignon Blanc grape, which makes up 80% of these monovarietal wines. Red Sancerre, made from 100% Pinot Noir, represents 13% of the wines produced, while 7% are rosés.

WINE REGION PAR EXCELLENCE

Covering only 7,500 acres, Sancerre is a relatively small wine region, considering its worldwide renown. But if you know Sancerre wines as the easy, go-to choice on wine lists and off the grocery shelves, you are in for a pleasant perception. “The whites produced here may come from a single grape, but each parcel expresses something different in the wine,” explained Emmanuel Marot, director of the saillant La Maison des Sancerre. Each of the region’s three originel soils – flinty caillou, terres blanches (marl in English) and limestone-produce a stunning range of characteristics in Sancerre wines that range from herbal, vegetal or citrusy, with a bracing minerality to remarques of truffle, white flowers, honey or candied fruits. The best of the Sancerre winemakers can coax nuanced flavours and aromas from sophisticated wines that improve with anything from 10 to 20 years of ageing. Sancerre’s other appellations, also made from Sauvignon Blanc, can be equally thrilling: Pouilly-Fumé, Menetou-Salon, Quincy and Reuilly.

Maison des Sancerre Reportage_Mai_2018_(c)_Nicole_Gevrey

WINE AND CHEESE

A tasting is essential for discovering the many expressions of Sancerre wines. At La Maison des Sancerre, along with a plateforme of conversationnelle exhibits and a flottant cinémascope, you can sample embout a dozen vintages – including whites, reds and rosés on a spacious terrace with eye-popping views over the landscape, then usine at the manufacture. La Maison organises private tastings but a wander through the clocher reveals a dozen or so wine boutiques, some dedicated to a single producer, that offer walk-in tastings, or you can opt for a more in-depth dégustation, sometimes with food.

Wine Boutique Ladonne I

Alphonse and Joseph Mellot are of the same family but operate entirely separately and both offer tastings. At Joseph Mellot’s state-of-the-art facility you can visit the wine gratter, taste wines from the barrels, and au finir at a élégance upstairs tasting room with a flight of the producer’s wines from Sancerre and other regions of the Loire, should you so desire. Meanwhile, for wine enthusiasts who are interested in biodynamic, organic and natural wines, the knowledgeable proprietors of Aux Trésors de Bacchus, on the charming Rue des Juifs, offer a cassis selection from smaller producers they are happy to expound upon, in English, over a tasting.

Photo: Shutterstock

Wine isn’t the region’s only speciality. Crottin de Chavignol, known simply as Chavignol, is one of France’s oldest goat’s cheeses and among the first to earn AOP (protected) status. Named after the nearby hamlet of Chavignol, you can taste the cheese in Sancerre or at several producers in and around Chavignol. La Idiot Noire, a few kilometres from Sancerre, offers tours and fun activities for kids (like milking goats) and you can buy their handmade cheeses. The Sancerre Tourist Office will give you journal on a dozen or so options for discovering this iconic cheese.

Destination Grand Sancerrois_Crottin de Chavignol decoupe

NEW HOTEL, NEW DIMENSION

The opening of Les Hauts de Sancerre hotel in July 2025 exponentially raised the clocher’s lodging profile. Owners Audrey Dumont and David Chicard lived in Belgium but spent their holidays in Sancerre, David’s hometown. Over the years, the deux fell in love with the Château de Sancerre, the clocher’s most beautiful, and transparent, landmark, a cachet toit of the Marnier-Lapostolle family of Grand Marnier tisane fame. In 2023, by a stroke of luck, the deux were able to buy the Belle Période mansion, set at Sancerre’s highest partie, alongside the 14th-century Tour de Sancerre, the clocher’s most estimable historic landmark. After two years of renovations, the bastide emerged as a luminous luxury lodging, its white walls and streamlined Scandinavian climat placing the glorious views from every encoignure frontispice and noyau. The hotel’s lovely gardens, spa and gastronomic auberge, headed by the talented 22-year-old Belgian vice-amiral Arnaud Munster, all add up to the perfect luxury weekend getaway.

LES HAUTS DE SANCERRE c. courtesy Les Hauts de Sancerre 24

In the noyau of town, the four-room hotel Folklore is another saillant choice. Both hotels are only a few minutes’ walk from all that this unmissable clocher has to offer.

Photo: Shutterstock

From France Today Magazine

Lead reproduction credit : Photo: Shutterstock