92 - Points by Ian Blackburn
A rare and intriguing Sancerre Rouge made from 100% Pinot Noir by Hippolyte Reverdy, one of Sancerre’s top and most respected producers. While Sancerre is best known for its crisp white wines, only about 10–20% of the appellation’s production is red, even though Pinot Noir has been cultivated and vinified in the Sancerrois for centuries.
 
This wine shows a dense, deep, and expressive style, with notes of cherry compote, bright Pinot fruit, spice, vanilla, and subtle richness. The palate is silky, smooth, round, and polished, offering surprising depth while still maintaining freshness, balance, purity of place, and classic Loire nuance. Inspired in feel by the richer, riper, more forward styles seen in Oregon and Burgundy, it remains poised and elegant, with a tender, refined finish.
The wine comes from Pinot Noir vines averaging 30 years old, planted in siliceous clay and gravelly limestone soils.
The grapes are 100% de-stemmed, with fermentation lasting two to three weeks. The must undergoes pump-overs twice daily for ideal tannin and color extraction, then the wine is racked into 400-liter barrels for one year, interrupted only by a natural malolactic fermentation in spring. It is bottled unfiltered, preserving texture, purity, and character.
 
Imported by Kermit Lynch, this bottling reflects the traditional house style of Hippolyte Reverdy, whose label and approach have remained largely unchanged for decades. In the late 1980s, Kermit Lynch encouraged Michel Reverdy to age his small amount of Sancerre Rouge in traditional demi-muids and bottle it unfiltered. Originally made this way only for the cuvées imported by Kermit Lynch, the style became so admired that by 2003, Michel began bottling all of his reds unfiltered.
 
This is not a heavy or overly earthy Bourgogne-style Pinot Noir. Instead, it is pure, charming, bright, and elegant, with classy fruit taking center stage. It has the feel of a Paris-bistro Pinot Noir: refreshing, silky, food-friendly, and made for pleasure rather than contemplation. A beautiful and rare Loire Valley red, perfect for the dinner table.
 
History:
Does it get more classic than this? Like Chablis and Muscadet, Sancerre is a quintessential white wine appellation of France, beloved for its famous Kimmeridgian limestone and crisp blancs that sing at apéro hour. This AOC also happens to be home to half a dozen vignerons named Reverdy.
Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy, a family farm that has been making wine for many generations—since the 1600s—is our favorite, producing Sancerres with trademark notes of fresh spring flowers and a zesty, mineral finish. 
The vines of Domaine Hippolyte REVERDY are planted on 2 types of soil:
The ‘white soils' (kimmeridgien): limestone-clay soils that produce full-bodied wines that age slowly.
The ‘pebbly soils': limestone based and stony, they produce wines that evolve quickly to fruity ones.
An intelligent blending of the musts from these 2 terroirs is an integral part of the Domaine Hippolyte REVERDY wines.