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Loire Valley

Central Loire

Sauvignon Blanc’s gold standard, plus some great Pinot Noir

Encompassing the appellations of Menetou-Salon, Pouilly-Fumé, Sancerre, Reuilly, and Quincy, the Central Loire is separated from the contiguous stretch of the Loire to its west, closer to the Massif Central and the river’s origin. These limestone-dominated vineyards are renowned mostly for a mineral-driven, racy style of Sauvignon Blanc that serves as a blueprint for how the variety is produced in many places worldwide, but Pinot Noir also thrives here, particularly in Sancerre and Menetou-Salon’s warmer pockets. While a great deal of the Central Loire’s output is relatively commercial and technical in spirit, we at Rosenthal have sought out growers who go the extra mile for quality, harvesting by hand, adopting longer-than-usual aging, and generally employing less intervention than is commonly encountered here.

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