François Crochet
In Sancerre, three villages have come to be associated with wines of distinction: Chavignol, Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre, and Bué. François Crochet lives in Bué and farms around eleven hectares, with vines predominantly around this home village (including around 3.5ha of Pinot Noir!). Some of these 30 parcels Crochet works are in several renowned single-vineyards in Bué, including lieux-dits Petit Chemarin, Grand Chemarin and Le Chêne Marchand. These vineyards are limestone-based, rendering a distinctive mineral quality to Crochet’s wines that isn’t always found in the more industrially-produced wines of the region. Of course, each parcellaire wine has its own personality, but the single-vineyard wines are aged on fine lees in large foudre for 18 months, adding openness and elegance—a style long abandoned by most producers in the appellation.
Crochet’s methods are gentle: fruit is hand-harvested and whole-cluster pressed, making for pure, delicate expression—less ripeness and dullness, less of that “Sancerre-y” character of which one might complain, which has its origin in rough handling of fruit, poor farming, and over-cropped yields. Since 2019, only wild yeasts have been used in the winery, deepening the wines’ profiles; since 2017, the vineyards are worked both organically (certified) and biodynamically (practicing since 2018 and conversion completed in 2020).
François Crochet’s wines are some to watch: since there’s never enough Vatan, Cotat, and Boulay to go around, it’s exciting to see a producer come back to his family domaine, improve farming and vinification, and start to deliver some soft-but-structured, aromatically compelling Sancerres from an appellation where quality can be hard to come by.
One of the most talented vignerons of the Sancerre region. — Revue du Vin de France
Wines
Sancerre
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Color: White
Farming Practice: Certified organic, with biodynamic principles.
Certified organic. 100% Sauvignon Blanc. Sauvignon Blanc vines planted on the three types of soil of the Appellation, that is 80 % chalky soil – locally known as “caillottes”, 10% clay chalky soil and 10% flint. The vines are 25 years old on average. Hand-harvested. Pressed and fermented with natural yeast. Aged on its fine lees for 9 months in stainless steel. 67 mg/l SO2 Total
Sancerre ‘Exils’
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Color: White
Farming Practice: Certified organic, with biodynamic principles.
Sancerre ‘Le Petit Chemarin’
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Color: White
Farming Practice: Certified organic, with biodynamic principles.
‘Le Petit Chemarin’ is the name of a south/southeast-facing vineyard with highly chalky soils, regarded as one of the best vineyards in the village of Bué. 45 year-old vines. Hand-harvested, then pressed and fermented with native yeasts. Aged on fine lees in large foudre for 18 months.
Sancerre ‘Le Chene Marchand’
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Color: White
Farming Practice: Certified organic, with biodynamic principles.
Certified Organic, Practicing Biodynamic. 100% Sauvignon Blanc. ‘Le Petit Chemarin’ is a south/south-east facing chalky soil vineyard, regarded as one of the best in the Sancerre village of Bué. The vineyard has been farmed organically for several years and is officially AB certified since 2017. Conversion to biodynamics since 2020. In farming, hoeing is performed to remove weeds between each vine in the row. Debudding in Spring. Grapes are hand-harvested and rigorously sorted. Whole grape pressing is done in a sequential program to allow for a very gentle extraction. After a settling period, the juice is racked and the alcoholic fermentation – with natural yeasts since 2019 — takes place in a ‘tronc conique’ oak vat. When completed, the wine is matured on its fine lees for 18 months since vintage 2019 (vs 11 months up until 2018.) Cold settling and filtering on cellulose plates before bottling. Unfined.
Sancerre Rose
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Color: Rose
Farming Practice: Certified organic, with biodynamic principles.
Certified organic, practicing biodynamic. 100% Pinot Noir. Average vine age of twenty years, planted on clay and chalky soils. Fruit is hand-harvested, then whole-cluster pressed. Fermentation and aging in stainless steel for six months. A great example of finely hewn Sancerre rosé—not the cheap pink stuff of which oceans are made—this wine drinks beautifully now, but this paler version of Sancerre Rouge will age very well for a few years, too. (Many wines with this kind of character and cut are even better with a year or two in bottle.) Brief maceration on the skins for this wine results in notes of kiwi, fresh baby rose, wild strawberry, and clean green herbs. One of our best rosés in the offer if you prefer them complex and layered.
Sancerre Rouge
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Color: Red
Farming Practice: Certified organic, with biodynamic principles.
Certified Organic, practicing Biodynamic. Certified Organic, Practicing Biodynamic. 100% Pinot Noir. Taken from vines growing on chalky and clay-chalk soils, 25 years old on average. The vineyard has been farmed organically for several years and is officially AB certified since 2017. Conversion to biodynamics in 2020. Depending on the soil, cover crops are planted between the vines in some parcels. Down each row, grass is kept mowed, and hoeing is done to remove weeds between each vine. Debudding in Spring. A green harvest is carried out every year. Grapes are 100% hand-harvested and rigorously sorted. Grapes are carried to the cellar in a bin fitted with a vibrating system; that and a vibrating table and the care of 5 to 6 persons ensure grapes are sorted before being destemmed. Fermentation in stainless steel tanks, with natural yeasts starts after a cold maceration. Tank time lasts 20 to 25 days depending on the vintage. This wine is aged in ‘tronc conique’ oak vats for 18 months. No fining, filtering done on cellulose plates.