2022 S et JP Agisson, Sancerre Blanc, Équilibre, Loire Valley, France.
A very distinctive, none traditional, Sancerre from S et JP Agisson with complex layering and mineral driven austerity, but the highest quality of balance with a play between tension and textual pleasure on the medium bodied palate that revolves around lemon/lime, white peach and gooseberry fruits, along with lees almond brioche, flinty wet rock, apple skin, clove spice, a touch of herbaceous leafy elements and white flowers. This was a very tough blind taste, and I was pretty far off on my first guesses when presented with this wine, but I did immediately recognized the elite nature of this beautiful wine! Jean-Philippe Agisson, who works for the famous Dagueneau family, is a rising star in his own right and this Sancerre Équilibre is a gorgeous Sauvignon Blanc, sourced from organic vines in the La Vigne aux Filles, and some blocks right in the village of Sury-en-Vaux in the Sancerre zone set on classic ancient Kimmeridgian limestone soils with fossilized oyster shells, which brings out the exceptional clarity, depth and steely mineral notes found here. The wine was all harvested by hand, direct pressed to barrel for fermentation and then was aged on lees for 18 months in large, neutral French, oak barrels. The wines here at Agisson are all bottled unfiltered and unfined to capture every vintage and terroir nuance, as this unique 2022 shows in near perfect detail.
My friend Alex Lallos, of No Limits Fine Wines, introduced me to these Agisson wines and told me of their rarity and quality, giving me the background here over the course of a casual home meal with this Sancerre Blanc. He explained that Domaine Agisson, or also known as S et JP Agisson, is a small family label and makes wines at their micro-estate based in the village of Sury-en-Vaux in the Loire Valle founded in 2017 by the talented winemaker Jean-Philippe Agisson and his wife Stéphanie. Agisson is famous for producing meticulously crafted Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir with what Alex says is uncompromising quality. Jean-Philippe Agisson’s pedigree, as noted in many wine media outlets, is legendary among Sauvignon Blanc enthusiasts, after a decade as the cellar master for Alphonse Mellot at Domaine de la Moussière, who’s wines are some of the finest in Sancerre, especially the Pinots. In 2018, Agisson was brought on by Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau to serve as cellar master for the iconic Domaine Didier Dagueneau, a role he still holds today, so not many resumes are this good and the wine at Agisson speaks for itself. Agisson has now expanded to four hectares across several sites including the Les Vignes aux Filles, Les Chasseignes, and Le Purgatoire in and around Sury-en-Vaux; as well as L’Eclat in Saint-Satur, and more recently adding the Les Champs Billards, a cooler site in Pouilly-Fumé, which hopefully means there will be more available in the States. Still a bit under the radar, these Agisson offerings are well worth searching out, with only a select few bottlings out there, they are big gets for Loire enthusiasts!
($85 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive