Domaine Vacheron, Sancerre Two-Pack: “Le Paradis” & “Les Romains”
Other, France 2016 (750mL)
Regular price$99.00
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Domaine Vacheron, Sancerre Two-Pack: “Le Paradis” & “Les Romains”
Want to have your mind blown? Invite a few Sancerre-loving friends over, open today’s two bottles side-by-side, and taste them together. Cut up a wheel of goat cheese, preferably the Loire’s prized Crottin de Chavignol, and see how brilliantly the wine pairs with it. We’ve done this very thing twice recently—once in our offices, about a month ago, and once at Domaine Vacheron itself, about a week ago.
The SommSelect team just completed a barnstorming tour of France, and one of the highlights, without a doubt, was our visit with Jean-Dominique Vacheron, one of the two cousins who run this benchmark property. Tasting with Jean-Dominique in Vacheron’s frigid caves (made even more frigid by a late-winter cold spell in the Loire Valley) was a “bucket list” experience we won’t ever forget, nor will we forget the clear and fascinating distinctions between the two single-vineyard bottlings we are offering today. Vacheron’s “Le Paradis” is sourced from a steep, south-facing slope of nearly pure limestone; “Les Romains,” meanwhile, is from a 60-year-old vineyard rooted in pure flint (a.k.a. silex). We couldn’t obtain enough of either wine to do full-blown individual offers, as these are extremely limited-quantity bottlings. We can offer up to 3 two-packs per customer today, and my advice is this: Host the above-described tasting, which is guaranteed to thrill, then find a dark, cool spot in your cellar for the remaining four bottles. They’re delicious now, but, as we also learned on our visit to the region, they will age for decades, too!
The SommSelect team just completed a barnstorming tour of France, and one of the highlights, without a doubt, was our visit with Jean-Dominique Vacheron, one of the two cousins who run this benchmark property. Tasting with Jean-Dominique in Vacheron’s frigid caves (made even more frigid by a late-winter cold spell in the Loire Valley) was a “bucket list” experience we won’t ever forget, nor will we forget the clear and fascinating distinctions between the two single-vineyard bottlings we are offering today. Vacheron’s “Le Paradis” is sourced from a steep, south-facing slope of nearly pure limestone; “Les Romains,” meanwhile, is from a 60-year-old vineyard rooted in pure flint (a.k.a. silex). We couldn’t obtain enough of either wine to do full-blown individual offers, as these are extremely limited-quantity bottlings. We can offer up to 3 two-packs per customer today, and my advice is this: Host the above-described tasting, which is guaranteed to thrill, then find a dark, cool spot in your cellar for the remaining four bottles. They’re delicious now, but, as we also learned on our visit to the region, they will age for decades, too!
Jean-Dominique and his cousin, 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, the Vacherons have farmed biodynamically, and they’ve attained both organic and biodynamic certifications for their wines. During our visit, Jean-Dominique showed us a topographical map of Sancerre and explained how different bands of soil run through the zone. On this map, which delineated all Vacheron’s vineyard holdings, was a hand-drawn vertical blue line: on one side were the vineyards on limestone, including “Le Paradis”; on the other, as you’ve likely guessed by now, were the parcels on silex, including “Les Romains.” Both vineyards enjoy full southern exposures, and both wines are vinified essentially the same way—fermented on indigenous yeasts and aged in used oak barrels.
Much of our focus during our visits in France was on the 2016 vintage, as these will be the wines we’ll be working with over the course of the next year. Having spent the last year-plus cycling through a horde of rich, ripe, powerhouse 2015s, we won’t have to miss a beat in offering 2016s: This is a superb, if short, vintage—Spring frosts sharply reduced crop sizes in many regions—with similar power to ’15 but better balance, freshness, and, to our palates, aging potential. And make no mistake: Loire Sauvignon Blanc can age, and quite beautifully; we tasted a series of older bottles at dinner with Jean-Dominique (and, subsequently, some amazing older wines from Pascal Cotat, François Cotat, and Francis Blanchet in Pouilly-Fumé), and all I can say is, get some of this stuff in your cellar!
Both of these 2016s have a pale straw-gold core moving to green and silver reflections at the rim, but from there, they veer off in their own distinctive directions. “Le Paradis,” the “limestone” wine, is the more citrusy, floral wine of the two, with aromas of lemon zest, white grapefruit, a hint of stone fruit, green herbs, white flowers, and chalk. “Les Romains” is the more brooding, earth-driven wine: apple and pear aromas, and a blast of citrus zest, are followed by salty, wet-stone minerality that carries through forcefully on the palate. Both wines are medium-bodied and tightly wound now, in need of 30-60 minutes of air in a decanter to really unfold. Let the temperature come up to 50-55 degrees and use large white wine or even Bordeaux stems to really release the full aromatic arsenal of these wines. They both have such nobility and firm, fine structure—this is really the pinnacle of Sauvignon Blanc and a fascinating study of diverse terroirs. Don’t think there’s “minerality” in wine? Think again!
