france: loire_valley
Domaine Roblin, Sancerre
Matthias Roblin’s first commercial vintage was 2000 and of that debut the English magazine Decanter wrote: "Searing concentration of lime and elderflower fruit with refreshing acids. Long and even with a steely mineral character. Fine."
The magazine went on to select Matthias’ 2003 Sancerre as the best white table wine to come out of the Loire in 2005 (World Wine Awards, October, 2005). Given the torrid heat of that endless summer, one in which making a fresh wine was all but impossible, this was quite the honor. Decanter then profiled Matthias in its September 2006 issue, naming him among five new faces to watch in the Sancerre appellation.
In 2006 his younger brother, Emile, joined him, and now these two work alongside their father, who, with their uncle, manages the production at Château de Maimbray. The boys represent the fourth generation of Roblins to make wine in Maimbray, a tiny hamlet of Sury-en-Vaux just north of the old walled, hilltop town of Sancerre. The "château" is the Roblin family household (a stately stone building to be sure, but a far cry from the turreted affairs up and down the Médoc Peninsula). The boys’ mother Annick runs the office for both businesses, while in back under the same roof—but in different rooms—are dad’s tanks and the sons’ tanks.
The two generations approach winemaking differently. Matthias and Emile work extensively with lees during the élevage, whereas their father and uncle do not. Domaine Roblin’s wine is rich and broad in texture; Château de Maimbray’s wine is stony and crisp. Maimbray the commune is known for its relatively high clay content in its chalk soils, which gives very pointed aromatics to Sauvignon Blanc and makes for powerful wines that benefit from a year or two in bottle (purer Kimmeridgian chalk soil—such as those in Bué—produce softer, more gentle and more elegant Sauvignons). Add lees-stirring to this mix and you get a pretty big mouthful of Sauvignon. This heavier soil also makes for fuller reds.
Matthias and Emile’s holdings come from their mother’s side of the family. Currently, they farm eight hectares (19.8 acres) of Sauvignon Blanc and one and a half hectares (3.7 acres) of Pinot Noir on the hillsides of Maimbray and Sury-en-Vaux divided among 17 parcels. In the next couple of years these holdings will increase to roughly ten hectares of Sauvignon and two and a half hectares of Pinot, but Domaine Roblin will always remain an artisan operation.
The Wines
- Sancerre blanc: This stays on its lees until January or February after the harvest, and is bottled roundabout May after a light fining and filtration. The annual production averages 4,400 cases.
- Sancerre blanc Les Ammonites: This is the top white, coming from their best parcels of Terres Blanches (purer Kimmeridgian soils), where shellfish fossils, such as Ammonites, are often found. Les Ammonites stays on its lees until bottling in August or September following the harvest, and is never fined or filtered. It is made only in the top years, and the yield is kept between 45 and 55 hectoliters per hectare (the AOC rules permit up to 68 ha/he for Sancerre). Annual production averages 675 cases.
- Sancerre rouge: Pinot Noir made one-third in demi-muid barrels (large 600-liter barrels) and two-thirds in tank. Annual production averages 450 cases.
- Sancerre rouge Grande Côte de la Vallée: This is a west-facing slope that had been planted to Pinot Noir at the beginning of the twentieth century. Then phylloxera wiped out the vineyards, and this slope wasn’t widely replanted because of the unevenness of the hillside, despite the fact that it was especially well suited to Pinot in Sancerre. The Roblins have 0.6 hectares (1.5 acres), and the wine is made entirely in demi-muids (new or one-year-old, depending on the vintage). Annual production averages 165 cases.
- Sancerre rosé: Tank fermented Pinot Noir rosé. Annual production averages 275 cases.
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