Clarity is a term the accurately describes the 2018 Clos la Neore. It has a pure and intense core of fruit. But it’s not fruity. It’s a sophisticated style with a distinctive aromatic profile – chamomile tea, lemon, honey and almond meal and an almost tannic -like edge. While showing the ripeness of the 2018 vintage, it retains its shape with a corset of wine and phenolics that guide the wine on and on. –Rebecca Gibb, Vinous Media
It's very difficult to get an appointment with Anne Vatan, but dogged persistence pays off. And boy is it worth it. This prized Sancerre domaine is little more than a garage winery before garage wineries were famous. Having taken over the family domaine following the retirement of her father in 2007, she has leased out some of its vines to wine producer Vincent Gaudry while retaining the jewel in the Monts Damnes crown: Clos La Neore, which Gaudry also tends for her as she is not always in Chavignol. Home is sometimes Paris and sometimes Saumur - she is married to Nady Foucault of Clos Rougeard fame – a home they share with their small dog Prince George. The winery is very basic - just five enamel tanks and one stainless steel, the latter for blending before bottling. There's not even a press here: the grapes are pressed at Gaudry's winery in Sury-en-Vaux, a 9-minute drive away. Clos La Neore is worth seeking out but it's not that easy. You can't even buy a bottle from her at the domaine, although if you book a table at La Petite Maison, a cool new restaurant in Sancerre, run by vigneron Luc Prieur's wife, it's on the wine list and well-priced. Clos La Neore is one of the world's most sophisticated Sauvignon Blancs. It is always pure and
attractively austere with enormous substance. Produced from a 1 hectare parcel of mass-selected vines that were planted by Edmond Vatan in 1970 on clay-limestone.
