The single-vineyard 2008 Sancerre Grands Champs displays the impenetrably blackish-purple opacity that I wrote (back in issue 172) shocked me. But I have to say that the shock value is wearing off and a slight sense of annoyance setting in about the frontiers of extraction and Pinot concentration explored by Mellot. This smells as vividly of soy sauce as any non-Syrah I have ever encountered, with resin and tart red berry concentrate behind that. In the mouth, there is insistently tart acidity; and invigorating but also mouth-puckering sense of chomping down on the seeds of raspberry and blackberry; and a decidedly leathery evocation of things animal. Finishing with undeniable grip, this also left my teeth feeling a bit rubbery and my tongue and gums numb. In a vintage with the inherent sweetness of fruit of 2005 one could better get away with this approach, but I think it is more than a stretch in 2008. I hate to be seen as berating Mellot for this no doubt earnest (indeed, perhaps overly-earnest) efforts – given that I would normally not publish a lengthy review of a wine I rate only 85 points (and that on the strength largely of sheer concentration and seamless ripeness) – but he is one of the Loire’s most prominent growers and – like nearly all of his bottlings – this is a wine priced as ambitiously and aggressively as it is vinified. I’d be intrigued to learn how the corresponding and in many respects similar 2005 matured, and I hope Mellot will permit me to discover that, but given my present state of admitted inexperience, I could not recommend cellaring this 2008.Forty year old Alphonse Mellot has now spent half his life running the domaine of his eponymous father and grandfather, in the process acquiring an enviable reputation, almost as much for his Pinots as for his Sauvignons. I regret – especially in view of my reservations (detailed in the tasting notes) about his approach – my not having had time to visit him this year, which explains the absence of a report from barrel on his 2009 reds or on all but two of his 2009 whites. (Incidentally, I do not recommend that any similarly skeptical tasters linger at Mellot’s web site, whose over-the-top wine descriptions outdo an already more than ambitious-enough reality, thus doing neither him nor us any favors.)Various importers including Domaine Select, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799; Boutique Wine Collection, Philadelphia, PA (914) 954-6583; and Elite Wines, Lorton, VA; tel. (703) 339 8150

Alphonse Mellot has been running the domaine of his eponymous father and grandfather for 17 years (since he was 20). Taking Sancerre Pinot to the next level – at least of extraction and intensity – Mellot’s 2005 Sancerre Rouge Grands Champs displays a shockingly dark purple-black color and intense aromas of lightly-cooked black cherry and cassis. Concentrated black fruits, bitter chocolate, and chalk inform an improbably dense palate, without much primary juiciness and with a saline note adding some invigoration and inducement to salivate. This is certainly an amazing demonstration of what is possible with Pinot Noir in the appellation, but I miss precisely the textural nuance, perfume, mysteriously carnal dimensions, or elegance that are the point of most of the best Pinots. Still, this certainly grabs one’s attention, leaving a nagging curiosity about how it might evolve in bottle.Various importers including Domaine Select, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799 and Elite Wines, Lorton, VA; tel. (703) 339-8150