If You Like Sancerre, Try These Wines

There’s a reason Sancerre has become one of the most beloved white wines around. Crisp, refreshing and vibrant, it delivers the kind of bright acidity, citrus-driven fruit and mineral character that keeps you reaching for another glass.

But if Sancerre is already a regular in your rotation, it might be time to branch out.

The key is figuring out what you love about Sancerre in the first place. Is it the freshness? The minerality? The citrus? The restrained fruit? Or that wonderfully crisp, clean finish?

Whatever keeps you coming back, there’s an entire world of white wine that can take you in a new direction while holding onto some of the qualities you already love.

Here’s where we’d go next.

If You Want to Stay Close to Home: Menetou-Salon

Not ready to stray too far? You don’t have to.

Just southwest of Sancerre, Menetou-Salon offers another expression of Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc. The appellation’s vineyards are planted on clay-limestone soils, including Kimmeridgian formations also found in parts of Sancerre.

For a Sancerre drinker, the appeal is easy to understand: freshness, lively acidity and plenty of that mineral-driven Loire character, but from an appellation that still flies a little more under the radar.

Why try it: You want everything you love about Loire Sauvignon Blanc while venturing just a little off the beaten path.

Pogo’s Pick: Remoortere Menetou-Salon Blanc 2024

If You Want Another Side of Loire Sauvignon Blanc: Pouilly-Fumé

Cross the Loire from Sancerre and you’ll find another of Sauvignon Blanc’s great homes: Pouilly-Fumé.

While the two appellations share a grape and some geological similarities, Pouilly-Fumé has an identity all its own. The appellation includes limestone, clay-limestone and flint-rich soils, with some wines showing the smoky, stony character long associated with the fumé name.

Think of this less as leaving Sancerre behind and more as seeing what Sauvignon Blanc can do from the other side of the river.

Why try it: You love Sauvignon Blanc’s citrus, freshness and mineral character and want to explore another classic expression of the grape.

Explore Pouilly-Fume

If You Want to Take Sauvignon Blanc to Italy: Friuli

Now let’s leave France altogether—but keep the grape.

In northeastern Italy, Sauvignon Blanc has a long-established place among the white varieties of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Look to areas such as Collio and Colli Orientali del Friuli for Sauvignon that can retain the grape’s freshness and aromatic personality while offering a distinctly Italian expression.

It’s a great next step for someone who knows they love Sauvignon Blanc but wants to see just how differently the grape can express itself when you change the place.

Why try it: You’re loyal to Sauvignon Blanc but ready to take it beyond the Loire.

Explore Friuli Sauvignon Blanc

If Freshness and Salinity Are What You Love: Muscadet

Here’s where we leave Sauvignon Blanc behind.

Muscadet comes from the western end of the Loire Valley, near the Atlantic, and is made from Melon de Bourgogne. While the grape is completely different, there’s plenty here for a Sancerre drinker to love.

Dry, refreshing and often wonderfully saline, Muscadet can deliver the brightness and clean, mouthwatering quality that makes Sancerre so appealing in the first place. It’s also a natural partner for oysters, shellfish and seafood.

Why try it: You care less about Sauvignon Blanc itself and more about crispness, freshness and a savory, saline edge.

Explore Muscadet

If It’s the Restraint and Minerality: Chablis

Sauvignon Blanc to Chardonnay might sound like a big jump. In the glass, it makes a lot more sense.

Chablis sits in northern Burgundy, where Chardonnay takes on a very different personality from the richer, riper styles you may associate with the grape. The region is renowned for wines with vibrant acidity, restrained fruit and a distinctly mineral character.

There’s also an interesting geological connection: Chablis is famous for its Kimmeridgian limestone and marl, geological formations that also appear in parts of the Centre-Loire.

If you love Sancerre because it feels precise, refreshing and driven more by place than by overt fruitiness, Chablis is an easy next move.

Why try it: You want acidity, restraint and mineral character—and you’re ready to forget about Sauvignon Blanc entirely.

Explore Chablis

If Acidity Is What Keeps You Coming Back: Dry Riesling

Forget everything you’ve heard about Riesling always being sweet.

Dry Riesling can be electric: vibrant acidity, citrus and orchard fruit, and an incredible ability to express where it’s grown. It will take you somewhere decidedly different from Sancerre aromatically, but that sense of energy and freshness should feel very familiar.

And just like Sauvignon Blanc in Sancerre, Riesling can be remarkably transparent to its site, with different soils and growing regions producing dramatically different expressions.

Why try it: The bright, mouthwatering acidity of Sancerre is what you really love—and you’re ready for something more aromatic.

Explore Dry Rieslings

If You Want to Turn Up the Salinity: Assyrtiko

Ready to venture a little farther? Head to Greece.

Assyrtiko originated on the volcanic island of Santorini, where it produces some of Greece’s most distinctive white wines. Despite the island’s hot, dry climate, the grape retains striking acidity, while Santorini Assyrtiko is particularly known for its structure, citrus character and intense salinity.

What connects the two is that exhilarating combination of acidity, citrus and mineral character that makes you want to take another sip. If the steely, mouthwatering side of Sancerre is what you love most, Assyrtiko may be your next obsession.

Why try it: You love crisp, mineral-driven whites and want to take that preference somewhere completely unexpected.

Pogo’s Pick: Gavalas Assyrtiko Santorini 2024

The Bottom Line

Finding your next favorite wine doesn’t have to mean finding something that tastes exactly like the wine you already love.

Sometimes it’s more interesting to ask why you love it.

If Sancerre is your go-to, start with Sauvignon Blanc from another corner of the Loire—or take the grape all the way to Italy. Then venture a little farther. Try the salinity of Muscadet, the precision of Chablis, the electric acidity of dry Riesling or the volcanic intensity of Assyrtiko.

You may come back to Sancerre. You’ll just have a few more favorites waiting beside it.