So when asked to pick a wine out of a limited selection in someone else’s fridge I immediately chose a Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Sancerre 2004. This Sainsbury’s range used to be called Sainsbury’s Classic Selection, and they went out of their way to find examples of famous wines which were absolutely typical of the appellation – handy if you want a reasonably priced benchmark.
This Sancerre was pale and bright. It smelled like wet stones, if you’ve ever bothered to stop and smell some! It had some quite zippy fruit, citrus and with just a smidge of gooseberry and herby grassiness. It’s bone dry and crisply acidic. The minerality feels really refreshing in the mouth, with the citrus flavour carrying through.
This is quite a direct wine, it’s not gentle or friendly and welcoming, it’s assertively acidic and mineral, perfect when you’re in a Sancerre frame of mind and don’t want to break the £10 barrier.