france: loire_valley
Domaine Matthias Roblin, Sancerre
Matthias Roblin's father and uncle direct Château de Maimbray, and this is where young Matthias makes his wine. His first commercial vintage was 2000 and of that debut the English magazine Decanter said: "Searing concentration of lime and elderflower fruit with refreshing acids. Long and even with a steely mineral character. Fine."
A few years later, Decanter selected Matthais' 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 yet ripe white wine required real skill and judgement, this was a real honor.
Matthias is a self-assured, quiet young man. He completed his studies at the Beaune viticulture school and came home to take over 3.5 hectares belonging to his mother's side of the family. In contrast to his father, Matthias works extensively with lees during his wine's élevage, with the result that his Sancerre has an unusually rich and creamy mouth-feel (Château de Maimbray's is crisper, stonier, more traditional), underpinned by pointed minerality. He also harvests in the low to mid 50s in an appellation that permits 68 hectoliters per hectare, and this, coupled with Maimbray's soils, gives his wine its innate concentration. Maimbray is a tiny hamlet of Sury-en-Vaux, just north of the town of Sancerre and known for its relatively high clay content. Sancerre blancs from here are full, rich, and a little backward at first, thus benefit from some bottle age. Matthias, like his father before him, also appreciates the potential of reds from Maimbray. The denser soils here lend themselves to Pinot Noir, making refreshing wines punctuated by bright cherry notes and crisp acidity.
Younger brother Emile has recently joined Matthias. These two young men hope to grow the domaine to 7-10 hectares, but at every step it will remain an artisan operation.
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