Domaine Delaporte, Sancerre (Loire Valley, France) 2019

 “Opulent” and “Sancerre” aren’t words any of us are accustomed to seeing in the same sentence, and I don’t know whether I’m glad or not to be conjoining the words in this sentence or not.  On one hand, the wine is undeniably delicious, so no problem there.  On the other hand, it shows very ripe fruit that comes off as notably sweet, even though I doubt there’s any residual sugar in the finished wine…just an impression of sweetness from the ripeness of the grapes at the time of harvest.  Whereas Sancerre has always been — categorically — an emphatically light-bodied wine, this one is medium-bodied and leaning toward full.  Moreover, there’s a tropical note along with the standard issue lemon/lime scents and flavors that also skews this in an opulent direction.  To return to the aforementioned deliciousness, there’s plenty of acidity to keep this in balance, so the wine’s richness doesn’t pose any problem — it just presents as a surprise.  Tried alongside a spicy preparation of mussels, this was spectacular, so just adjust accordingly when thinking about this ultra-impressive wine in the context of food.