When you look at the specs of today’s wine, and especially once you’ve tasted it, it’s impossible not to compare it to Grand Cru white Burgundy. Yes, of course this Sancerre from Vacheron is made from Sauvignon Blanc, not Chardonnay, and its vineyard of origin, “Chambrates,” does not carry a “Grand Cru” designation (because they don’t have those in Sancerre). But the chalky limestone soils of Chambrates are pretty much a dead ringer for those found in Burgundy, and the profound impact of today’s 2018 on both the palate and brain rivals anything coming from Burgundy’s most iconic sites.
Now look at the price: a fraction of what you’ll pay for Grand Cru white Burgundy. I’m not exactly sure why, but with very few exceptions, the elite wines of Sancerre do not fetch the same three- and four-figure prices of their elite Burgundian counterparts. All I can say is that this wine is a steal at this price—as memorable and age-worthy a bottle as is possible to offer on this site. Elite. This is something we’ve come to expect from Vacheron, an estate which has few peers in Sancerre (or anywhere else, for that matter). The across-the-board quality of these wines, whites and reds alike, is simply phenomenal, and the fact that a little bit of a wine like “Chambrates” can slip past the top restaurant buyers and collectors and into our hands is cause for celebration. Take up to six bottles today and chalk it up among your shrewdest wine investments of the year. It’s that good.
In fact, it’s getting increasingly difficult to write about Vacheron, because they continue to outdo themselves, and at a certain point I’m going to run out of superlatives. The Vacheron cousins, Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique, take a decidedly “Burgundian” approach in the vineyards and cellar, vinifying their wines parcel-by-parcel to showcase different terroir expressions. Most of their vineyards—34 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and 11 of Pinot Noir—are planted on silex (flint), but the “Chambrates” site—a broad, south-facing plateau—is a very rocky mix of clay and shattered Jurassic limestone. It’s one of six different single-vineyard bottlings the Vacherons make, each one showcasing a unique combination of soil type, exposition, and microclimate. Although there are other famous “cru” bottlings from Sancerre—like the various expressions of the “Les Monts Damnés” vineyard—no one in Sancerre offers the diversity of terroir expression found in the Vacheron lineup.
Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique were relatively early adopters of biodynamic viticulture, having been certified back in 2005, and their natural approach is reflected in the purity and pulsating energy of their wines. They plow their soils, fertilize with natural compost, plant cover crops between the rows of vines, and hand-harvest much smaller yields than their neighbors. The pristine grapes are gently pressed then fermented with only natural yeasts in open-top wooden fermenters, and when fermentation is complete, the Chambrates is racked (transferred to another vessel) and then returned to those same barrels for a year of aging before bottling.
For those of you who may have snatched up one of Vacheron’s other single-vineyard wines (like the finely chiseled “Le Paradis” bottling), Chambrates is considered the broadest, most textured wine in the bunch. It still hums with Vacheron’s trademark mineral tension, but there’s a muscularity to it that owes at least in part to the full-south exposure of the site. This is high-impact white wine that is built to age: In the glass, it’s a classic straw-yellow with hints of green at the rim, leaping from the glass and grabbing you by the lapels with scents of white grapefruit, tangerine, lemon curd, fresh ginger, chopped green herbs, crushed chalk, and a touch of warm spice. It is medium-plus in body, with a taut structure right now—but after a 30- to 45-minute decant, its layers start to unravel and a tsunami of flavor and aroma floods the senses. I’d opt for larger stems (maybe a Bordeaux glass) and a temperature of 50-55 degrees to really get the full Chambrates experience—and maybe some of your favorite sushi and sashimi to pair with it. Fattier cuts like toro will be especially good, but if you prefer your fish cooked, attached is a killer recipe with many complementary flavors. It will make for a blockbuster pairing. Enjoy!
