Alphonse Mellot Sancerre Génération 2008 rouge

Robert Parker Wine Advocate "From nearly 90 year old vines in Mellot’s La Moussiere and fermented in tapered wooden vat, the white 2008 Sancerre Generation XIX is pungently redolent of fresh lemon and parsnip, caraway, narcissus, parsley, and nettle. Firm and almost explosively bright on the palate, its citrus is mingled with bitter notes of zest, parsnip and caraway as well as a resinous element of barrel, but that does not dry the wine out. Instead, this is about as brashly, penetratingly juicy a Sauvignon as one could want, but one whose message – even allowing for impressions of salt and chalk – seems to me largely confined to a rather narrowly tart, pungent, umbelliferous (i.e. parsley-, parsnip-like) band width. It would however be very interesting to see how this strident Sancerre evolves over the next several years. "