2023 Sancerre Rosé, Domaine La Clef du Recit, Loire Valley, France

Tasting note

Vibrant pale coral colour, the nose is full of Pinot fruit notes, with raspberry and redcurrant. The palate is textural and silky, with admirable concentration and a little structure. This is a delicious grown up rose made for the table.

Our thoughts

With its bright, raspberry Pinot Noir fruit, Sancerre rosé was the choice of the jetset before Provence came along – and wines like this show why. La Clef du Récit was taken over in 2012 by Anthony Girard, a dynamic young winemaker who left his family winery to start his own project in the south of the appellation. Having built a new, much more modern cellar soon afterwards, he now has almost 10 hectares of vineyards in Sancerre and Menetou-Salon and makes five different cuvées. His rosé is 100% Pinot Noir, hand-harvested and destemmed with the juice run off the skins afer 48 hours. It is cool-fermented over 21 days using indigenous and cultured yeasts before four 4 months in stainless steel.