France

Is this Sancerre in disguise? This refreshing white wine has all the makings of Sancerre and cost under $20! Lip smacking acidity and minerality dominate the palate. Crisp with subtle citrus notes that finishes bone dry. 100% Sauvignon Blanc from old vines.

Quincy does produce exceptionally high quality Sauvignon Blanc, much like Sancerre, but at a much more affordable price. The cost of Sancerre has skyrocketed over the years with it’s immense popularity and recent difficult vintages. So the savvy Sancerre drinker should be looking towards regions such as Quincy to get their high-acid, mineral driven white wine fix.

Today’s wine happens to be produced by an outstanding Sancerre winery, Domaine Sylvain Bailly. This is one of our favorite Sancerre producers, who really created something special with their Quincy botting.

The Bailly family have been vignerons in Sancerre from father to son since 1700. Like most winemaking families in France who suffered from the phylloxera blight in the late 19th century and then the two world wars of the 20th century, it was only in the early 1950's that Sylvain Bailly began to prosper and grow his business. His son Jacques has took the helm in the late 1980s and today, his daughter Sonia manages the estate.

Winery Notes
On the nose, a wide range of fragrances, from vegetal with ivy and acacia to fruity with peach and lychee. A fresh start, opening for persistent mineral and fruity notes with a lingering finish on the palate.

If we had our way, fish stores would include a bottle of Muscadet with every dozen oysters sold. But barring new regulatory measures of food and drink, picking up a bottle of Muscadet should be as much of a given as dressing for salad; bread for a sandwich; a steak knife for a steak! That's how perfect and an integral this wine is with briny, East Coast oysters (or any shellfish, truly!). Here, Pepiere's version is bright and briny, with a little lemon meringue and lemon verbena on the nose, and that clear, bracing minerality that keeps you coming back for another sip (and another oyster!). -- PJ

Crafted from 20+ year old vines of Sauvignon Blanc in the village of Bue, but also extending into Sancerre, Amigny, Crezancy, and Montigny. Impeccably focused with laser-like acidity. Bright citrus fruit mingles with notes of wet stone and minerals. The wine dances on the palate with grace and elegance. Another perfect example of Sancerre from Sylvain Bailly.

Organic

100% Chenin Blanc. Bouquet of pear, green apple, quince, and melon that develops notes of mineral and honey. Expressive and exceptionally well balanced on the palate with lots of lemon and a trace of anise. An absolute steal at this price point.

Organic

Lamé-Delisle-Boucard’s Vieilles Vignes is pure Cabernet Franc exclusively from vines over 40 years of age in the commune of Ingrandes de Touraine part from the sandy gravel terraces of the lieu-dit Louys, and part from hillside plantings in the clay-limestone of Mont Sigou. This cuvée undergoes alcoholic fermentation in tronconic oak casks with a 10-day maceration, then spends a year in large, very old 25-hectoliter foudres. Invitingly ripe on the nose and tinged with earth, it enters the mouth silkily, revealing its underlying minerality as it moves across the palate, and it closes with a gentle clench of supremely elegant tannins.

Organic

A delightful dry Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley. Chenin is a wonderfully versatile variety, and this wine shows the fresh side of it, full of pears, quince, baked apples and lively acidity. Great with all sorts of fish / seafood dishes or with fresh or goat cheese. The grapes are hand-picked, then left to settle for 48 hours. The must then ferments with indigenous yeasts. Aged in tanks, on fine lies for six months with batonnage. Filtered, not fined. 12% abv

Organic / Biodynamic

The pale yellow robe is very clear. The nose shows a nice expression of freshness, citrus and white flowers. The mouth is fresh with a nice tonic acidity and minimality. 100% Chenin Blanc. Vineyard planted in 1984. Direct pressing. Fermentation and maturing in stainless steel temperature-regulated tanks. Tartaric stabilisation in cold room.

Clos de Nouys is the essence of dry Vouvray and this 25 acre estate is found just outside the eponymous sleepy village, where they vinify Chenin Blanc. This is as good and affordable as Chenin Blanc gets. On the palate this is dry, full bodied and with a hint of flinty minerality and fantastic acidity for a clean finish that suits seafood perfectly. the Clos de Nouys is a 25-acre estate within the Vouvray appellation of the Loire Valley, with vines averaging 35 years old. This is one of the oldest winemaking estates in the AOC area: its wines were served on the SS Normandie transatlantic liner in 1936, and its parcels of vines were already listed amongst the best sites on the 1907 geological maps.?? Its vine plots have been acknowledged as being some of the best of the area. The terroir consist of hillsides vineyards, facing south, on clay and limestone and a thick layer of "Tuffeau", a soft limestone with water-retaining properties making it very interesting in periods of drought.

Organic

Organic / Biodynamic

Notes of lime, herbs and spring flowers preface the 2024 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec, a medium- to full-bodied, lively and incisive dry white with a chiseled palate framed by a delicate bitterness and a long, ethereal finish. This is a classic at this address that could gain roundness with time in the bottle. Residual sugar: 7.5 grams per liter.

Past vintages have been featured in The New York Times. Eric Asimov once wrote:

"Domaine du Bel Air, run by a father-and-son team, makes fine, age-worthy wines from organic cabernet franc. Jour de Soif is their entry-level bottle, made from younger vines, which are nonetheless still 20 years old. Yet this is no mere vin de soif. You can sense the structure of the other cuv??es in the fine tannins that give shape to this otherwise fresh and juicy wine. Not shy at 14.3 percent alcohol, it, too, would be great for grilled meats."

The 2023 Bourgueil Jour de Soif reveals a fruity, delicate bouquet of spices, dark wild berries, green bell pepper and pepper. Medium-bodied, gourmand and juicy, it has a delicate, tannic frame with powdery tannins and a long, mouthwatering finish. It is produced from vines that are planted in gravelly soils (60%) and in clay soils (40%). - Wine Advocate

Organic / Biodynamic

95 points Wine Spectator
This voluptuous, full-bodied, off-dry white shows a lot of power, offering round pear, mango and honeycomb flavors that take a salty turn on the palate, with notes of brine, crushed flint and bitter almond skin, backed by a subtle hint of brioche on the finish. Opening up in the glass, this gorgeous wine offers loads of immediate charm, but should have a long life ahead in the cellar as well. Drink now through 2035.

Organic

#99 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines Of 2025

93 points Wine Spectator
There’s brilliant freshness to this impressively concentrated, plump Chenin, with apple, pear, peach and star fruit notes showing ripeness yet crunchiness at the edges. Offers just the right hints of toasted, candied almond and pie crust, adding a pleasing element of decadence that’s well-balanced by a well of mineral, saline energy. Stunning. Drink now through 2040.

Organic / Biodynamic

95-97 points Vinous
Pear and pineapple aromas meet fine, floral characters in the 2020 Demi-Sec Le Haut-Lieu. While this wine's edges are rounded, it is refined and elegant. It has a sense of density on the mid-palate, but it's not about weight or richness despite its demi-sec status. The wine has an intensity and a structured core reflecting the naturally low yields here. While there is 20g/L of residual sugar, a sense of freshness and underlying urgency pulls this wine through, leaving an off-dry impression. Unfinished sample.

95-96 points Wine Advocate
The 2020 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Demi-Sec is clear, pure, subtle, deep and fresh, with highly refined chalky/sandy lemon aromas. Rich and intense yet silky textured and refined on the concentrated palate, this is a juicy, highly elegant, perfectly balanced, persistently salty and mouth-salivating Haut-Lieu with very fine tannins and a long, firm and pretty powerful but elegant and complex finish. Still more stringent than the Le Mont Demi-Sec in the beginning, but after aeration, this is not just a greatly finessed Chenin but one of the finest Haut-Lieu's I have tasted from Huet. Tasted as a tank sample in April 2021.

Organic / Biodynamic

92+ points Wine Advocate
More introverted and shy in comparison to Haut-Lieu, the 2024 Vouvray Clos du Bourg Sec wafts from the glass with aromas of grapefruit, confit citrus, lime and spring flowers. Medium- to full-bodied, dense and phenolic, it's slightly austere with a tannic mid-palate that leads to a gently bitter finish. This refined yet structured wine needs some time in the cellar to chill out. Residual sugar: eight grams per liter.

Organic / Biodynamic