95pts Vinous

The 2023 Monoparcelle 538 is focused and firm with a sense that it knows where it's going. This offers up a finely fruity nose with nectarine, ripe lemon and chamomile aromas. Eighteen months on lees added excellent richness and texture to this more vertical interpretation. A bright, luminous acidity pierces its entirety. Although packed with tension and length, the 2023 is still in a tight corridor and will expand with more time in bottle.

About the Wine

Monoparcelle 538 is the cadastral plot number for a 0.44 hectare plot of 47 year-old, massale selection Sauvignon Blanc planted on a shallow and gravelly soil 30 cm deep in the lieu-dit of Les Desmalets. Les Desmalets is potentially the fullest-bodied terroir Stéphane Riffault farms, so much so that he blends most of it into his village Sancerre and reserving its oldest vines for this profoundly expressive and age-worthy micro cuvée. 

Winery Notes

Stéphane Riffault (Claude’s son and now the owner of the estate) is turning out Sancerre
bottlings that are the envy of many producers twice his age. As David Schildknecht put
it, “Make no mistake: this address in the hamlet of Maison Salle (Sury-en-Vaux) is
now one of the five or six most exciting estates in the Sancerre appellation.” Given that
Stephane’s holdings represent 4-tenths of 1 percent of the appellation, he is clearly
doing something right.

Based in the village of Sury-en-Vaux, Stéphane Riffault works 33 different parcels in 8
different lieu-dits spread across four villages. The 13.5 hectares of vines are plowed, and
no synthetic material is used. Starting in 2017, the property has been certified organic
by ECOCERT and biodynamic by BIODYVIN. Unlike most Sancerre producers, the
entire harvest is carried out by hand, and extensive sorting occurs before the grapes are
crushed. Stéphane’s wife, Benedicte, leads the harvest team while Stéphane manages
the sorting and press during harvest.

Most of the domaine’s holdings are planted on the soft limestone soil called terres
blanches, with some parcels on calliottes and silex. Minor, judicious uses of oak help to
add length to the already precise, site-expressive, and vertical bottlings. All the parcels
are vinified separately, and except for the rosé, all the wines are bottled unfiltered.
Having studied and worked in Burgundy (and closely with Olivier Leflaive), it’s easy to
see the Burgundian influence in Stéphane’s wines. The mastery of minerality standing
shoulder–height with the wood is rarely duplicated in Sancerre. Regardless of his
parcels’ exposition (many are south-facing), Riffault’s wines are always crisp and highcut with a jeweled delineation that speaks to the precision and attention these wines
get. These are not your daddy’s (or his daddy, Claude’s) Sancerres. 

Biodynamic

Organic