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Domaine Lucien Crochet, Le Chêne

Other, France 2013 (750mL)
$36.00
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Domaine Lucien Crochet, Le Chêne


Please note this wine will be shipped next Thursday, 4/23.

The Crochet family were pioneers of the Sancerre appellation. In the early 1900’s the family was one of the first to bottle their wines and sell them in Paris. In the 1980’s, Lucien Crochet’s Sancerre was one of the first of the region’s wines to break into the Bordeaux and Burgundy dominated New York wine scene. To this day, the family’s white wines are a globally recognized standard. They grace numerous 3-star Michelin wine lists around the world and are benchmarks for the region. 

Today’s wine, the Crochet family’s 2013 Sancerre Blanc “Le Chêne” is produced from vineyards in the Sancerre sub-village of Bué. The Crochets work in a small walled vineyard called Clos du Chêne Marchand that is composed of clay-limestone soils (known locally as “caillottes and griottes”) and planted entirely to Sauvignon Blanc. This vineyard enjoys unusually broad and warm exposure to the sun, so despite this being one of the estate’s top wines, it comes from fruit that is actually harvested earlier than most other Sauvignon parcels in the village. As with all the Crochet family’s vineyards, the Clos du Chêne Marchand is meticulously farmed, harvested by hand, and all clusters are rigorously sorted by hand before fermentation.

Unlike many of the cellars I describe on this site, the Crochet family’s winery is not a funky, rustic, minimally appointed basement of a family home—in fact it is quite the opposite. In order to make focused, fresh, and extremely pure wine it is necessary to incorporate some trappings of modernity; so the family runs an impressively clean and technologically advanced cellar. Fermentation and aging temperatures are all controlled by computer and every vinification function is planned and carried out with a sense of purpose. It’s no wonder that so much thought and organization goes into producing wines this consistent and delicious. 

The 2013 Lucien Crochet “Le Chêne” has a light golden yellow core with green highlights on the rim. The nose delivers tightly focused, complex aromas of finely crushed minerals interwoven with oyster shells, lime blossoms, green pineapple core, grapefruit, gooseberry, lemongrass and a touch of honeycomb—a truly gorgeous wine. The palate is fiercely mineral with bright acidity and a mouthfeel that is notably generous for Sancerre. Flavors are not dissimilar from the nose, but no less vivid and impressive. The finish goes on for what seems like forever. This is a young wine of serious depth and pedigree which needs plenty of air if you are consuming it within the next few years. I strongly recommend that if you have time, please decant this white for at least 2 hours before serving just below cellar temperature (55-60 degrees) in large Burgundy stems. Once you’ve prepared the wine properly, its elite quality will be obvious. I am a lifetime lover of this cuvée and always keep a case in my cellar. As I mentioned above, it is the perfect “secret weapon” with which to begin a meal— plus the wine’s ample acidity affords it a long life in the cellar—so you will never regret having a few extra bottles at your disposal.
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Country
France
Region
Other
Sub-Region
FranceSancerre (Bué)
Soil
Limestone and Clay
Farming
Organic
Blend
Sauvignon Blanc
Alcohol
13.0
OAK
Neutral

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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