Sommelier Journal

PAGES (55-60) June 15 2010

SPECIAL REPORT The lieux-dits of Sancerre Jesse Becker, MS, CWE Jesse Becker has worked in nearly every facet of the wine industry since 1997. After jobs with Robert Sinskey, Miner Family, and K&L Wine Merchants in California, he began his sommelier career with Charlie Trotter and NoMI in Chicago, followed by two years alongside Bobby Stuckey, MS, at Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colo. He has traveled extensively throughout Europe’s winegrowing regions and has worked harvests with Maison Camille Giroud in Burgundy in 2004 and Alphonse Mellot in Sancerre in 2008. After passing the Master Sommelier exam in 2008, he has consulted for projects including Vintrust, Wine Access, and The Boiler Room Restaurant in Omaha, Neb. He is now a partner in winetomatch and legitrecipes and is co-owner of périphérique-wine, an online wine merchant based in San Francisco.

Sancerre is deeply connected to the sea. If you were to glance at a map, you might believe this statement to be either an outright falsehood or at least an exaggeration. After all, Sancerre is 254 miles east of the coastal city of Nantes, France, where the Loire River empties into an estuary and finally into the Atlantic Ocean. Its hilltop village and the 14 other communes that make up the approximately 6,425 acres of the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) are entirely la...