Sancerre is not just Sauvignon Blanc. We know this. But the Pinot Noirs of Sancerre still only account for a little over 10% of the region’s production, so they’re rarely seen. Historically, Sancerre Rouge has sort of skulked around in the shadow of red Burgundy, but increasingly, it’s taking a star turn of its own—with “Belle Dame” from Domaine Vacheron deservedly at the top of the bill.
This is a masterful single-vineyard French Pinot Noir that doesn’t require any qualifiers: It’s not just “great for a Sancerre Rouge,” it’s great, period, and eclipses countless Pinot Noirs costing far more. None of this is news to Vacheron fans, who know that theirs are perhaps the very best reds being made in Sancerre. This impeccable biodynamic estate does everything well, as many of you are aware—over the years, we’ve offered just about every wine they make, and today’s wine comes with the bonus of hailing from the warm and generous 2015 vintage. The name says it all: This is a beautiful Pinot Noir that is poised to age gracefully. We can offer up to six bottles per person until our small stock disappears.
One of the hallmarks of a visit to Domaine Vacheron is when one of the two third-generation proprietors of the estate, cousins Jean-Dominique or Jean-Laurent Vacheron, takes out a topographical map of Sancerre with a hand-drawn line on it delineating where the soils of the zone shift from terres blanches (limestone) to silex (flint). They have other visual aids, too, in the form of chunks of rock culled from their assorted vineyards in the region. Soil and site are of paramount importance to the Vacheron cousins, who not only embraced organic and biodynamic farming early on but have made soil-specific, single-vineyard wines a calling card. “Belle Dame” is one such wine, sourced from a single vineyard of 50+-year-old Pinot Noir vines planted in pure flint soils. This was the estate’s first single-vineyard bottling, in fact, introduced in the 1995 vintage.
Jean-Dominique and Jean-Laurent Vacheron are third-generation proprietors of an estate that was founded in 1900; it has since grown to encompass about 50 hectares of vineyards in Sancerre’s choicest spots (of which a solid 11 hectares are of Pinot Noir). Since the early 2000s, they have farmed biodynamically, and they’ve attained both organic and biodynamic certifications for their wines. In their famously cold cellars near the center of Sancerre, the Vacherons ferment “Belle Dame” on native yeasts in open-topped wooden fermentation vats, then age it 18 months in French oak barriques before bottling it unfined and unfiltered.
When we offered the 2015 Sancerre Rouge from Vacheron, there was wide consensus that it was the best version of the wine we’d ever tasted. Well, same goes for “Belle Dame,” to which I’d add another superlative: benchmark. This is a wine that epitomizes what Pinot Noir is capable of in Sancerre, offering a combination of concentration, finesse, and ethereal perfume that is truly exceptional. In the glass, it displays a medium ruby with hints of pink and garnet at the rim, with an aromatic profile that’ll start your head spinning: red and black raspberries, bing cherries, currants, lavender, orange zest, rose petals, underbrush, baking spices, and a touch of black pepper fill the air and carry over to a medium-plus-bodied palate with a touch of kirsch-like sappiness to the fruit component. This combined with the amazing cool-climate freshness and rigid backbone make for a very refined, focused, long-finishing Pinot Noir experience. Much as I want to celebrate it without a Burgundy comparison I can’t help but think of some of the prettiest produce of Chambolle-Musigny as I sip this wine—it’s a push-pull of lushness and nerve and it is poised to age gracefully over the next 10-15 years if kept well. With 30-60 minutes in a decanter it’ll take you places right now, but with 3-5 more years…well, I’m going to be sure to save some so I can find out for myself (I’m expecting big things). Serve it at 60-65 degrees in Burgundy stems and pair it with a leaner cut of beef smothered in some mushroom gravy. What a meal that will be. Enjoy!
