J. de Villebois, Sancerre (Loire Valley, France) 2019

 This house remains both new and consequently unknown to most wine lovers on the western side of the Atlantic, but the wines are truly excellent at every price level, form the simple Touraine designation up to the “Cuvée Parcellaire” releases from single sites in Sancerre, such as this bottling.  With just a little time in bottle since initial release, this has become perfectly integrated and yet is showing all of its complex elements without them blurring together.  Most impressively (lest I commit the journalistic sin of “burying the “lede”), this tastes more of Sancerre than Sauvignon Blanc—from stem to stern.  That is to say, one can actually smell the limestone minerality in the bouquet, running in tandem with the citrus and herbal notes of the grape variety, and this remains true through the mid-palate and finish as well.  As temperatures continue to rise, it is ever more rare to find bottlings of Sancerre that speak more of rock than sun or grape, but this is one of them — yet there’s also delicious primary fruit that’s still in very fresh condition.  Do whatever you must to taste this — short of murder.