To all but the most fanatical French wine enthusiasts, $85 Pinot Noir from Sancerre might sound like a bit of reach. Believe me, I get it. But as many experienced sommeliers and dedicated French wine obsessives will agree, Lucien Crochet’s “Cuvée Prestige” is no ordinary red Sancerre.
On the contrary, it is (a) an extremely rare red released only in perfect vintages, and just twice in the last decade; (b) one of the deepest and most profound Pinot Noir-based reds to grace our tasting table in the last year; and (c) a bottle that, if you’re lucky, can typically only be purchased in the world’s greatest restaurants and a few connected retailers. So, those looking to impress a client or in-law with the gesture of a car payment-priced and rarefied Grand Cru should look elsewhere. But if you wish to render your most discerning Burgundy-devoted peers speechless with a gorgeously mature Grand Cru clone (I incorrectly blinded it as $200+-bottle of Clos de la Roche last week) for the cost of a good village Chambolle-Musigny, rest assured that this is your bottle! It’s certified, world-class wine. I don’t expect to cross paths with another vintage of Cuvée Prestige anytime soon and we only received a small allocation to share today. So, I encourage all interested parties to move quickly. It's go time!
[PLEASE NOTE: Today’s offer is only available on pre-arrival. All bottles will ship the week of February 11th.]
Experienced diners will likely recognize Domaine Lucien Crochet’s name and simple, but iconic, label. The family’s top white Sancerre cuvée, “La Chêne Marchand,” is a staple at celebrated restaurants across the globe, and their assorted other whites are recognized by retailers as among the region’s most consistent and critically acclaimed releases, no matter the vintage. But I often get the sense that sommeliers and retail shops are doing their best to keep Domaine Crochet’s red wines out of the limelight. Today’s “Cuvée Prestige” is a wine that makes memorable cameos at private wine dinners and sommelier get-togethers, but I don’t recall ever seeing a bottle on a retail shelf. Given the ridiculously limited release schedule and still-approachable price of today’s 2012 (one of only two vintages released this decade), I don’t blame anyone for trying to keep it an “insider wine.” On the other hand, SommSelect’s stated mission is to liberate scarce, “insider” wines like this so they can be enjoyed by home consumers—so let’s get down to business!
Taking a few cues from the typical soil “recipe” found two hours east in Burgundy, Domaine Crochet’s vineyards contain a mix of limestone and clay (in this case, Oxfordian caillottes and Kimmeridgian marl), plus a small dash of stones and gravel. The family’s Pinot Noir vines are predominantly south-facing, adding a welcome addition of heat and sun exposure to this typically cool growing region. Today’s Cuvée Prestige is a product of the family’s oldest vines, currently averaging about 60 years of age. Clusters are entirely de-stemmed before cold maceration and fermentation in tank for three weeks. Next, the wine is left to gently develop over 20 months in a small handful of top quality Burgundy barrels, 40% of which are new French oak, 40% one-year-old, and the remaining 20% two-year-old. When élevage (aging) is complete, the wine is bottled and aged for an additional two-plus years before about 50 cases are released in North America. This is a complex, time-consuming, and expensive process by any measure; it’s also poignant that most top Burgundy estates are already sold out of young 2016 Premier Crus while this 2012 Cuvée Prestige from Crochet—a dead ringer for any of Morey Saint Denis’ most celebrated Grand Crus but at a fraction of the cost—is entering its prime drinking window!
With one sip of today’s wine in a blind tasting, my taste memory brought me directly to Burgundy’s greatest sites, but as most of you know, blind tasting Burgundy is not an easy game to play. This wine exploded with the inimitable scents of a neighboring forest’s bounty of truffles, plump berries, and dried spring flowers. It was deep in this hypnotic state, just as I began to confidently announce the wine’s Grand Cru of origin—“Le Chambertin...no, it’s former and darker...perhaps Clos de la Roche or in that neighborhood”—when I was interrupted by the label clearly showing “Sancerre Rouge.” There was no confusion or disagreement about this bottle’s extraordinary quality, so I was thrilled to be wrong in the service of a learning opportunity (I will admit, if you give me this wine a year from now I would probably make the same mistake). The depth of fruit and Richter Scale-rattling power and mineral depth in each sip would have any experienced sommelier blinding this wine as top-level Burgundy ten times out of ten. But enough with the Burgundy comparisons: This is just one magnificent bottle of wine, a true terroir behemoth that demands no further aging and no long rest in a decanter. All it needs is a herculean protein.
Prior to this 2012 vintage, my most memorable Cuvée Prestige experience involved a bottle of 2006 poured alongside a superlative, reverse-seared 30-day dry aged, grain finished New York Strip from the Kona Butcher Shop on Hawaii’s Big Island. I never forget a perfect pairing, but this 2012 is even more muscular and youthfully robust than 2006, so I’d advise a slightly richer dry-aged Ribeye from any of the mainland’s top online purveyors. With that in hand, the rest is easy: throw a creamy potato and wild mushroom gratin in the oven, wilt a small, garlic-flecked bouquet of Swiss chard in your favorite cast iron skillet, and tear into a half loaf of local wood-oven levain smeared with top quality butter. Today’s wine is a valuable reminder that Grand Cru quality doesn’t always originate in Grand Cru vineyards—and sometimes not even in Burgundy!
