December 31, 2013 Happy New Year's Eve with Pascal Jolivet Sancerre 2012

We celebrated our anniversary and the culmination of 2013 at the Bijou in Vero Beach, Florida and this was the wine that brought it all to a very sentimental, but satisfactory close.

Pascal Jolivet is by French standards a bright newcomer on the scene. The vineyards were established in 1987 in the Sancerre section of the Loire Valley, located about 200km south of Paris, and in the villages of Bue, Verdigny and St. Gemme. With only about 75 acres, he outsources some of his grapes, but not in this particular bottle. They come from three vineyards, Les Cailotte which is chalky soil, the hillside vineyard of Les Terres Blanche and finally, Silex vineyard, a limestone and flinty region.

Jolivet believes in natural fermentation techniques. He adds no yeast cultures to his wines and allows them to ferment naturally--a slower process but the wine is crisp and tasty. He also does not use any oak barrels as he feels this overpowers the true components of sauvignon grape taste. (And I think I agree with him.) He states that he uses technology only to control the fermentation process, not to permit or begin it.  He says he's an epicurean and that wine "should go well with food."

JUST THE FACTS:

This bottle poured a beautiful very pale yellow almost water-like color.

When we took in the bouquet of this wine, I found it had notes of lime and green herbs, possibly thyme and sage. One taster labeled it "textbook cat pee." I am not sure I quite caught that, but I do know what he means :) .  Paul says he thought it smelled of green apples.  Other tasters also added wet stone and minerality.

The taste was dry and  lemony to me with a vanilla hint and some minerality on the finish. Paul definitely agreed with the citrus component and we both got a refreshing acidity. Another unexpected result was a slight fizziness---not like champagne but definitely there.

The ratings on this wine range from 87-91 on the major wine raters pages.

This wine sells in the store for about $15-25 and in a restaurant for $60. .

The winemaker suggested pairing this with seafood. I think that would be awesome. We didn't do that though. We had a polenta with mushrooms, a green salad and pork ribeye for me, short ribs for Paul. I am not sure we would score big with real wine pairers, but it was great.


WINE QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Give me books, French wine, fruit, fine weather, and a little music played out of doors by someone I do not know."     
                                                                              John Keats