I have been touting the 2009 vintage wines from all over France, but in the Loire Valley, it looks as if it could be the best vintage in the last 50 years.

Most of these wines are now on to 2010, which is another great vintage from the Loire, but I like the forward charm and riveting concentration of the 2009s better, so whenever I find them I buy all that I can, including a recent purchase of what may be the last 12 cases available in the market.

The Sancerre Region

The area near Sancerre was likely first cultivated by the Romans around the 1st century AD. The foundations of two different Roman bridges across the Loire can be seen at the river village of St-Satur, the port for Sancerre, marking its ancient position along a major Roman trade route.

The chalk hill outcrop was not only a distinctive landmark known in Roman times, but it also fit the profile of the type of area that was usually the first to be cultivated because it was near an important town and had easy access to a navigable river. And of course most importantly, the steep, sloping hills could provide the grapes with enough direct sunlight and heat to fully ripen, while also allowing cold air to flow off the slope and collect in the valleys below.

The region was historically linked to the dukes of Burgundy, which may explain the introduction of pinot noir vines to this area. Sancerre's position as an administrative center, along with the large nearby cities of Orléans and Bourges (which was the capital of the powerful Duke of Berry), ensured healthy local markets for the pinot noir and gamay wines traditional in the area.

Demand for sancerre increased even more with the coming of the railway from Paris. But in the late 19th century, the phylloxera epidemic devastated the Sancerre region, wiping out most of its vines. Although some pinot noir vines remained, almost all of the gamay vines were lost. These old gamay vineyards were replanted with sauvignon blanc, mostly because it grafted better onto the American rootstocks.

After the Second World War, Sancerre's wines gained quite a reputation in the Paris bistro scene. Sancerre became known as an easy drinking white wine, the equivalent to beaujolais. In the late 1970s and 1980s, a wave of new, quality-consciousness producers aided the reputation of sancerre as an elegant and food friendly white wine, and thus it has became very popular with the world's top restaurants.

Most vineyards around the town of Sancerre are to the south, facing slopes at altitudes between 655 and 1,310 feet (200–400 meters). The soils can be roughly classified into three categories:

1) The far western reaches heading towards Menetou-Salon have "white" soils with clay and limestone. Around the village of Chavignol (considered a cru of Sancerre), the soil also includes some kimmeridgian marl. Wines from these western reaches tend to have more body and power in their flavor profiles.

2) Heading closer to the city of Sancerre, the soil picks up more gravel mixed with the limestone and tends to produce more light-bodied wines with delicate perfumes.

3) The third type of soil is found around the city of Sancerre itself. It includes deposits of flint (aka silex), which add a distinctive mineral component to the wines. They tend to be more heavily perfumed and are considered to have the longest aging potential of all the sancerres.

When you enjoy wines from this vintage, you can perhaps appreciate them even more by recalling their interesting history and growing conditions.