WTN: Two Sancerres from Domaine Laporte

• 2006 Domaine Laporte Sancerre Rouge La Cresle - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre Rouge (7/15/2009)
  19,79€; 12,5% abv; label. Domaine Laporte is owned by Henri Bourgeois. La Cresle is a Vineyard of 2ha with chalky soil. It spends 6 months in old Tronçais oak. A light colour. It smells deliciously vegetal with pure, ripe Pinosity mixed with a slight peppery note. Medium body, very moreish structure - refreshing and grippy yet in no way harsh. The grip is impeccably intertwined to the sweetness of the fruit so that they really aren't separable despite the TN convention being such that fruit and structure are generally talked of as different issues. That doesn't work with this wine. Crunchy, refreshing, long finish. Nice stuff. A bit overpriced here in Finland (then again, what isn't?), but very enjoyable. Drinks well now and should improve at least in the near term.
• 2007 Domaine Laporte Sancerre La Comtesse - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre (7/15/2009)
  29,10€; 12,5% abv; label. 0,55ha vineyard with steep slopes in Côte des Monts Damnés. No oak; 5 months on lees. A very expensive, special cuvée Sancerre, but frankly I don't see why it is so expensive. It seems to be made in a little bit strange style for the Loire, reminding me rather of NZ SB with its very strong and in-your-face coupling of chili peppers / jalopeño and boisterous fruit. Full bodied fruit with some nice minerality and grip, but again it seems like it has two personalities: one very ripe with almost exotic fruit, the other underripe with harsh peppery greenness. It's not bad at all if one likes NZ SB, but I was a bit surprised to see such a style in the Loire. But, since I rarely enjoy the grape (with a few noted exceptions, e.g. Dezat's Sancerre in most vintages I do find very enjoyable), perhaps I have just misunderstood what this is about.

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