Sancerre wine’s unstoppable popularity baffles Bay Area restaurants

Sancerre, a type of Sauvignon Blanc from France's Loire Valley, remains extremely popular. Bottles, from left, from producers Domaine Vacheron, Chateau La Rabotine and Jean Reverdy.

A certain French white wine has become so popular that Bay Area restaurants can barely keep it in stock — if they can get any in the first place.

Drinkers here appear to have an insatiable thirst for Sancerre, the Loire Valley wine made from Sauvignon Blanc. They ask for it by name before even looking at the wine menu. They don't balk at its increasingly high price tag. They don't care which winery made it. They just know to request, simply: "I’ll have a glass of Sancerre."

At Zuni Cafe, wine director Thierry Lovato got so sick of the constant cries for a glass of Sancerre that he stopped serving it. "I don't put a Sancerre by the glass, because if I do that's the only thing I sell," he said. While it's always been fairly popular, "in the last two or three years it's been crazy." (He does have one Sancerre available by the bottle, from Domaine Vacheron, and it sells quickly: "We never have enough.")

Zuni isn't an anomaly. "It is sort of remarkable how popular it is," said Jason Cooper, owner of Velvet 48 wine bar in Burlingame. He always has a Sancerre available by the glass, currently from Domaine Daulny for a not-insignificant $20. "But even $20 — people are willing to spend that," he said. "You just don't see that kind of willingness to spend that much money on a glass of other white wines."

Sancerre's charms are easy to appreciate. Unlike many Sauvignon Blancs from California and New Zealand, which can be sharp and herbal, Sancerre tends more toward floral, mineral and stone-fruit notes. (California Sauvingon Blancs are booming in popularity too, by the way.) It's a richer take on Sauvignon Blanc, but still not quite as rich as many Chardonnays.

"It's almost as if it's the safest choice because (diners) know it to be not oaky and refreshing," said Tonya Pitts, wine director at One Market in San Francisco.

But that doesn't fully explain the extent of Sancerre's explosion in recent years. Billy Weiss, owner of North Berkeley Imports, attributed the scarcity in part to a series of low-yielding vintages in the region. For several years, frost and hail have decimated crop levels. That fueled the undersupply: Now, all of North Berkeley's Sancerres are allocated — meaning that the company can sell only limited numbers of bottles to the restaurants and stores that want to buy them.

That's a major shift from three years ago, when only a few of North Berkeley's Sancerre wines — those made by the Cotat family, considered by some to be the finest examples of their type — were allocated. Now, all of the company's Sancerre "is literally sold before it lands" on U.S. soil, Weiss said.

Do all these rabid Sancerre drinkers really know what they’re requesting? Does the average Sancerre drinker even realize that the wine is made from Sauvignon Blanc? (Sancerre is the name of the region, not the grape.) "I don't think so," Weiss laughed. Could it be that people simply like saying the word "Sancerre," with its attractive, gentle sibilance? Has it become a way for people to signal their own sophistication?

I suspect yes — which could explain why people aren't nearly as enthusiastic about other Loire Valley Sauvignon Blancs. The region of Pouilly-Fumé, for example, is adjacent to Sancerre and produces wines from the same grape variety, extremely similar in style. On top of that, it tends to be much more affordable than Sancerre. Yet no one is showing up to restaurants demanding a glass of Pouilly-Fumé.

"Why does Pouilly-Fumé not sell as well? Possibly it's a little more difficult for people to pronounce," said Hollis Grant, a regional manager at North Berkeley Imports.

I get it: I love Sancerre too. I love its flinty, steely nature, and how its searing acidity can harmonize with a deep, vibrant texture. But I never expect it to represent a good value when I’m ordering it at a restaurant. It's become too overexposed and too overpriced. (That's not to say you won't catch me splurging on a special, hard-to-find bottle on occasion.)

For those of you who feel similarly, you might consider giving other similar — and more fairly priced — wines a try. Pouilly-Fumé is a great place to start, and it's not the only other Loire Valley region making excellent Sauvignon Blanc; look also for those from Touraine. I recommend seeking out wines from Muscadet, a corner of the Loire Valley whose wines are made from a grape called Melon de Bourgogne. While different from Sauvignon Blanc, it can still satisfy a craving for a wine that's minerally, textured and refreshing.

There's a world of delicious white wine out there. Sancerre is only the beginning.