Jean-François Mérieau

“A badass example of the Sauvignon Blanc grape”

Working at a retail wine shop has its perks. But it’s not the expensive Champagne or old Burgundy you taste that always makes the biggest impression. While I was spending time at McCarthy and Schiering Wine Merchants in Seattle over this last year, one of the wines that blew my mind the most was a humble little Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley. Partly because of how good it was, partly because of how affordable it was. I’m always looking for price-quality ratio and this is the kind of wine that really delivers it.

Jean-François Mérieau is based in Touraine, a wine region named for its capital city, Tours. Touraine isn’t even the source of the most famous Sauvignon Blanc in the Loire Valley; that distinction belongs to Sancerre, further upriver. But this particular wine holds its own, and I think it’s a pretty badass example of the Sauvignon Blanc grape.

What I love about this wine is that it carries the bright, grassy character of Sauvignon Blanc, but it doesn’t stop there. There’s a deep, peachy stone fruit quality to this wine that gives it heft and depth. Many sauvignon blancs just taste like lemon water, but this is a wine with real backbone. This is a salad wine, an apéritif wine, and a cheese wine all in one.