This wine comes from a steep, southeast-facing vineyard close to the castle of Beaujeu. Particularly rich, it offers tropical fruits that show strongly through the acidity. There is an urgency to the texture, taut and still young. The wine proves the aging ability of fine Sancerre. Drink from 2020. ROGER VOSS

The southeast-facing slope at this vineyard is too steep (an incline of up to 60 degrees) to work by any means other than by hand. The Brochards farm one acre in Cul de Beaujeu, the vines planted in 1985. They yield an old-fashioned Sancerre of pristine power, rich with salinity, candied lemon notes and saltwater taffy notes of lees (it ferments and ages in stainless steel). As the wine develops in the glass, it opens to sea air and briny oyster notes, an ornate and classical match for a shellfish stew.