It doesn’t get any more exciting and bittersweet than what we have to offer you today because it’s one of the very last times anyone will set eyes on this iconic and extraordinarily limited cuvée. Comparisons to the world’s finest Grand Cru Burgundy run incredibly deep in Lucien Crochet’s rarefied “Le Cul de Beaujeu,” a wine that (1) has never once exceeded a three-barrel production and (2) is no longer being crafted as of the 2016 vintage. So, please allow me—just for a moment—to introduce you to a painfully limited, best-in-class French white. Even though I analyzed the label twice and tasted it three times over, I’m still not entirely convinced today’s resoundingly luxurious, full-bodied, and complex Sauvignon Blanc isn’t a world-class Burgundy in disguise.
It’s as if Sancerre is Côte de Beaune, Chavignol is Puligny-Montrachet, and “Le Cul de Beaujeu” is one of the fabled Montrachet vineyards—not to mention it’s crafted by one of the region’s most historically respected producers. It bears repeating that Crochet’s hedonistic 2015 is their penultimate release from this renowned vineyard, and it doesn’t appear that we’ll have any access to the ‘16. So, if you desire top-shelf Sancerre that shapeshifts into Grand Cru Burgundy—seriously, we had five people tasting this wine and it’s intoxicating richness, searing minerality, and unrelenting finish flummoxed all of us—today is your rare opportunity to pounce. Up to six bottles per person.
In the early 20th century, the Crochet family was one of the first to bottle Sancerre for commercial sale in Paris. Decades later, 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 market. Now, the family’s single-vineyard Sancerre Blanc bottlings are globally recognized benchmarks. Today’s wine, the Crochet family’s 2015 “Le Cul de Beaujeu,” hails from a vertiginous and universally cherished vineyard in the fabled Sancerre village of Chavignol, where it is rivaled only by “Monts Damnés.” Crochets sliver of vines in “Cul de Beaujeu” are rooted in rocky Kimmeridgian clay and limestone soils and enjoy a steep gradient with south-eastern exposure. As with all the Crochet family’s vineyards, it is meticulously farmed without chemical herbicides or pesticides, harvested by hand, and all clusters rigorously hand-sorted 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 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 carefully planned. It’s no wonder so much thought and organization goes into producing wines this consistent and delicious. Because “Le Cul de Beaujeu” is such a limited cuvée, only three barrels—one of which was brand new—were produced in 2015.
It’s no secret that 2015 was a warm and generous vintage that produced wines as bold and impressive in Sancerre as the rest of France. The vintage’s signature is immediately identifiable in the luxurious fruit, mouth-filling depth and unusually long finish. Le Cul de Beaujeu’s opening aromatic act is a memorable one, with deliciously ripe notes of yellow peach, Kaffir lime, yellow apple, kiwi, lees, acacia honey, orange oil, crushed stones, vanilla bean, green mango, salt-preserved lemon, and wild herbs. It’s incredibly enticing, but the main attraction (i.e. the palate) is what we came for. I often think of Lucien Crochet as taking a ‘Burgundian’ approach to Sancerre and this wine’s lush profile and endless complexity is a perfect illustration of Côte de Beaune’s top Grand Crus. It’s undeniably profound and rich, with deeply textured layers of ripe orchard fruit, a kiss of tropical, and finely chiseled minerality. If enjoying in the next year, decant for 30 minutes and serve at 55 degrees in large Burgundy stems. Crochet has a long track record of producing Sancerre whites that evolve gorgeously for decades, so do feel free to continue aging your remaining bottles for another 5+ years. Remember, unless you come along a 2016 vintage on a wine list, consider this the last time you’ll ever get to experience the luxurious magnitude of Crochet’s insanely rare “Le Cul de Beaujeu.” Cheers!
