More than a decade ago, long before Loire Sauvignon Blancs like Sancerre became the white hot item they are today, we discovered this new producer from Touraine that was making wine on the level of top flight Loire Sauvignons from much more famous appellations but charging the appropriately modest prices for something from the broader region. Vincent Richard was a solid commodity at the old location with three different efforts at different price points that delivered some of the best values for Sauv. Blanc in the store.
Among them, our favorite was the Vincent Ricard Touraine Sauvignon Les Trois Chenes 2020 (les trois chenes means ‘the three oaks’ as artfully portrayed on the label). Clean fruit, loads of energy, fruit notes from lime to peach with some richness but also the kind of tension and pop that defines the best efforts of this varietal, Ricard’s wines became go-tos for a 3-4 year stretch.
Like all winemakers sometimes do, he got the urge to tinker a little bit and a couple of subsequent vintages didn’t have the delineation or clarity that we had come to expect from this surprise source. As happens, other things came along that replaced what had been a steady part of the lineup. For a variety of reasons which we won’t get into here, we simply didn’t see anything from Vincent Ricard for a few years.
Recently retasted, it appears that Vincent Ricard has gone back to that driving, focused, fruit-driven style that made us big fans of his back in the day and we welcome his wines back to the fold. The estate is about 45 minutes from Tours and 20 kilometers east of famous Chenonceaux Castle. The Ricards have been growers for five generations and decided to bottle their own in 1998.
Les Trois Chenes is 100% Sauvignon Blanc from old vines (the oldest planted in 1947) on a gentle slope near the top of the hill. The vineyards face directly south, and the soil is clay and limestone. The grapes are hand-harvested and pass through a sorting table. The wine is barrel-fermented for 3 months, then aged in barrel for 8 months, with lees-stirring every 4 days or so which gives it a broader more substantial texture.
Simply a delicious mouthful of Sauvignon Blanc that overachieves for its modest appellation but also offers an excellent value option to fight the high cost of Sancerre. Great texture particularly for Sauv. Blanc, with that lime and bright white peach fruit and good underlying acidity, this is an absolute pleasure to drink at a price ($17.98) that Sancerre was about a decade ago.