Wine Advocate 94
 
Even in a region with such a venerable history as Sancerre, the Mellot family boasts an unusually rich heritage. Alphonse Mellot represents the 19th generation of a wine making dynasty: his ancestor, Cesar Mellot was appointed wine advisor to King Louis XIV in 1698. Great wines are not made by obsessing with the past and this is a domaine which is very much focused on the present, but with an eye to the future. A total of 45 hectares of vineyards are immaculately managed according to biodynamic principles and the wines, particularly the top cuvees, benefit from being sourced from old vines; over 80 years in the case of generation XIX. These wines show precise flavours which combine fruit and minerality with a touch of wood
 
From calcareous marl soils the 2017 Sancerre Génération XIX is a great, pure, vibrantly fresh and tensioned representative of the region and a great vintage. Deep, fine and complex on the very elegant and fresh yet concentrated nose, this is a tight, complex and sustainable Sancerre whose density is lifted by mineral freshness and backboned by extract and a tight yet fine tannin structure. The finish is fresh and stimulatingly salty and exhibits the complexity of 100+-year-old vines