On the left bank of the Loire River, the hilltop old town of Sancerre dominates the Sancerre region and its pretty hills covered in vines. Famous for its vineyards, Sancerre also boasts a medieval old town with its 15th-century Fiefs tower, period houses, and an early 16th-century belfry.
Sancerre is a village in the Cher department, in the Center-Val de Loire region, on the borders of the Nièvre. The limit of its territory is close to the left bank of the Loire.
Located 43 km north-east of Bourges, the town (about 1500 inhabitants) owes its notoriety to the famous homonymous vineyard, whose name has been recognized since 1936 covers more than 2,700 hectares and produces the appreciated white wines (sauvignon grape variety) and red (pinot noir grape variety).
Perched on a hill at 310 m altitude, the old center dominates the vineyards and the banks of the Loire. Since the Revolution, Sancerre merged with the municipality of Chavignol, which forms a large hamlet more than 3 km from the center, famous for the production of goat cheese also benefiting from a registered designation of origin.
Former stronghold with a fortified castle, Sancerre paid a heavy price during the Hundred Years War and during the wars of religion and, in the Revolution, when a royalist uprising was repressed.
Rich in an exceptional historical and environmental heritage, it found in the twentieth century all its luster with its production of wines and cheeses. It is a must for green tourism enthusiasts... and greedy.
Sancerre has the label "city of character" since December 2017.
