Sancerre is the rising tide that has lifted all of Sauvignon Blanc’s boats, and the once-sleepy appellation Coteaux du Giennois is the latest boat to set sail across the Atlantic. Every year, a new domaine comes across our tasting counter, and every one has the snappy fresh fruit and flinty rim of great Sauvignon Blanc. The latest is the Domaine de l’Estang by a fellow named Bertrand Guillot. Trained in Burgundy, he brings a more patient winemaking technique to his grapes farmed on the sandy, limestone clay eastern bank of the Loire. He leaves the grapes on the vine later than his neighbors and leaves the wines on their lees a year longer too, all in an effort to make “tender” wines with all the mineral cut of the best Sauvignon Blanc but with more finesse. His 2023 edition has aromas of lemon and tangerine, lemongrass and flint with delicate spring blossoms. The palate is light but gently creamy, with citrus and apple fruit before classic flinty minerality leads to the finish, which leaves behind a gentle touch of salt. Perfect wine for a classic lemon roasted chicken with herbs or freshwater fish.