Les Demoiselles facing north on the hill of Sancerre.

Elizabeth and I have made our way to the Rheingau, passing through most of the Loire, Alsace and southern wine-growing regions of Germany, so a little catching up is in order. I'll begin with a brief three-part wrap-up of our stay in Sancerre.

First, though, a piece of advice: you should arrange for a ride from the Tracy-Sancerre station to the village of Sancerre if you plan to take the train from the Gare de Lyon in Paris. The train let us off on a deserted platform where I'm fairly certain I heard an Ennio Morricone score begin to play as some tumbleweed blew by. It's a good nine kilometers to the hilltop village of Sancerre, so we were grateful for a ride from two sympathizing locals. Our rolling suitcases barely fit into the trunk of their Citroën.

The Maison des Sancerre museum.

A wonderful feature of Sancerre is their outstanding new wine museum, the
Maison des Sancerre, complete with a holographic map of the Sancerre vignoble and some fascinating video of the region's producers. From the museum's terrace, most of the region's 14 villages can be seen, and the staff is extremely knowledgeable about the AOC.

The biodynamic Domaine Vacheron located in the village of Sancerre.

Our main purpose in Sancerre was working the 2008 harvest with Alphonse Mellot, but we managed to squeeze in a couple of tastings in between tank cleanings. Jean-Denis Vacheron showed us the cellar at Domaine Vacheron and we tasted through their silex-driven Sauvignons and Pinot Noirs. Of special note were the minerally 2007 "Les Romains" and their excellent 2006 Pinot Noir from a forty-year-old parcel on the southeast-facing "Belle Dame." These are perhaps two of the most textbook examples of Sancerre blanc and rouge, respectively.