Gaudry Sauvignon "Gaudry'Olle" Val de Loire '22

For more than 30 years, Vincent Gaudry has been making wine in a hamlet in Sancerre (named Chambre, near Sury-en-Vaux), in the Loire Valley. Vincent is guided by the principle of trusting in nature, and his wines convey a sense of connection with the land they come from. The domaine was established by Vincent’s grandfather with only a few hectares of vines before being passed to Vincent’s father, Georges, who gradually enlarged the estate to 9.5 hectares. Vincent was only 16 years old when he joined his father in the family business in 1991, taking over entirely in 1993 when his father fell unexpectedly ill. Today, he and his wife, Séverine, who handles the administrative aspects of the domaine, farm 11 hectares of vineyards with organic, biodynamic, and regenerative practices. He began farming his vineyards with biodynamic principles in 2000, becoming the first producer in Sancerre with a Demeter certification, in 2004. Witnessing firsthand the positive relationship between the vineyards, forests, and their animal inhabitants brought on by his regenerative agricultural practices, Vincent works with nature and a sober pragmatism to maintain a balance in his vineyards and wine. (DeMaison Selections)

The 2022 “Gaudry’Olle” is the first release of this wine, a new project called “La Grande Pièce” in Crézancy-en-Sancerre, an area 9 kilometers southwest of Sancerre, just across the Sancerre AOP border, on a plateau at 300 meters in elevation, where the soil has a calcareous clay top layer, with caillottes underneath. 

Vincent had climate change in mind when in 2019 he planted sauvignon blanc vines from a massale selection of his 90-plus-year-old vines, from his La Rabotine vineyard in Sury-en-Vaux. 

Crézancy-en-Sancerre is located in a naturally cooler location at a higher elevation, where the sauvignon blanc variety ripens eight days behind the warmer parts of the Sancerre appellation on average. Vincent acquired the 2-hectare vineyard from an old farmer friend of his, Jacques, and began immediately converting the vineyard to biodynamic viticulture, in line with Vincent’s meticulous standards.

The grapes for “Gaudry’Olle” are hand-harvested, destemmed, and spontaneously fermented with natural yeasts in stainless steel tanks. Aged on the fine lees without bâtonnage for seven months, racked twice, and then bottled according to the lunar calendar, unfined and unfiltered.