92pts Vinous

In 2023, Les Chailloux underwent malo for the first time, which gives it a richness and roundness in the mouth. However, it lacks some of the flinty grip and tension that make this cuvée so identifiable. The 2023 is still a good wine with fine texture, balance and a touch of oak-derived spice, but it has lost that bitterness and tension that carries it through the finish.

About the Wine

Les Chailloux is a unique site in the village of Sury-en-Vaux. While silex soils (Flint) are common in the neighboring Pouilly-Fumé and the eastern edge of Sancerre, it is fairly scare in the northwestern part of Sancerre. Stéphane Riffault farms about 1 hectare of vines in this lieu-dit, a more profoundly mineral, smoky and tightly-wound wine capable of aging gracefully for many years.

About the Winery

Domaine Claude Riffault, which has been family-owned and run for five generations, is now in the hands of Claude’s son Stéphane who is working the soil in a much more organic fashion than his father. Chemical herbicides are no longer used on the parcels and there is a heavy weed cover in most of the parcels. The family owns 33 different (and quite small) plots on steep hillsides in four different villages. Part of the vineyard is made up of limestone soil which produces while vines with great fruit and explosive aromas. They also own a smaller amount of vines on flint soil which produces wines of incredible minerality and precision. The vines are ll vinified by plot and by soil type before some are assembled to make a small number of bottlings.

Organic 

Biodynamic