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PREMIUM

Loire Sauvignon Blanc: Panel tasting results

Sancerre made up about a third of the samples here, and was the clear star of the tasting, while judges also praised Touraine for wine lovers on a tighter budget

Jim Budd, Rebecca Gibb MW, and Chris Kissack tasted 90 wines with two outstanding and 31 highly recommended.

Entry criteria: Producers and UK agents were invited to submit their latest-release Sauvignon Blanc wines from specified regions of the Loire Valley, priced from £7.50 in the UK

The verdict

Growers in the Loire Valley have enjoyed a string of good vintages, but tasters arrived with a degree of trepidation about the 2018 wines – happily unfounded, it transpired.


Top scoring Loire Sauvignon Blanc wines from the panel tasting

See also wines tasted here


The judges

Jim Budd

Contributing to Decanter since 1989, Budd is the DWWA Regional Chair for the Loire. He writes the award-winning blog Jim’s Loire, while also exposing the dangers of drinks investment via his www.investdrinks.org website. He is a keen photographer, and is one of the five members of the Les 5 du Vin blog in France.

Rebecca Gibb MW

Gibb is a wine writer and author with a particular interest in New Zealand and the Loire. A regular Decanter contributor and DWWA judge, her first book, The Wines of New Zealand, was published in 2018 (£30, Infinite Ideas). As a co-founder of The Drinks Project, she offers stategy and consultancy for brand owners.

Chris Kissack

Kissack has published www.thewinedoctor.com since 2000. He has focused on Bordeaux and the Loire Valley for many years, and has been a frequent visitor to both regions since 1993. In the Loire, he writes regular first-hand reports on domaines and vineyards, as well as detailed annual vintage assessments.

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