2022 Domaine François Crochet, Sancerre “Le Chêne Marchand” Loire Valley, France.
The Cru Le Chêne Marchand Sancerre by François Crochet, who is highly regarded in the region, and that graduated from the famous enology school in Beaune and after school stayed in Burgundy working at Domaine Bruno Clair, is a top notch, complex and structured Loire Sauvignon Blanc with this 2022 version being an elite white wine. The racy medium bodied palate is driven by mineral intensity, lifted citrus fruit, subtle depth and rewarding textural dimension, showing off aromatic gooseberry, lime blossom, lemon oil, tart peach, wet stones and a long chalky finish. This outstanding stuff, with loads of terroir character and age worthy substance, coming from classic Silex soils and fermented after a whole cluster pressing, with this wine seeing close to a year of lees maturing in an old forty-hectoliter tron-conic French oak vat.
The Sancerre region, as noted by The Source Imports, Crochet’s importer in California, sits on top of a series of hills and small valleys that were once under the ocean which deposited all sorts of calcium rich shells from ancient sea-life. Going on they add, In the case of Sancerre, the most famous rock here is called Kimmeridgian, which is made primarily of an ancient tiny sea creature that closely resembles today’s oyster. The rest of the vineyard land in Sancerre is a mixture of limestone marl, chalk and flint, as well as quite a lot of red and brown clay soils that are clearly marked with a good dose of iron. The conditions here are perfect for mineral intense and chalky wines, with Crochet making some sublime versions of red and white Sancerre offerings, with François’s cru Sancerre Blanc(s) being one of my favorites. I was a great pleasure getting a chance to try this special and more concentrated vintage of crochet’s Le Chêne Marchand Sancerre earlier this year and it will be a thrilling wine to enjoy over the next 5 to 7 years.
($69 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive