Pictured above: Négrette, for once, not asleep
So recognisable have the names like Sancerre become in the wine market, that consumers tend to paint the wines with a broad brush. Like the villages of Burgundy, however, the central appellations of the Loire too possess a myriad of terroirs and styles across its communes. The family-run Domaine François Crochet is so closely tied to the small commune of Bué which lies just a few kilometres to the west of the town of Sancerre. It is here that François and his wife Carine produce their wines, from their 12 hectares of vines which are planted on all three of the principle Sancerre terroirs (caillottes, terres blanches and silex).
Dear Reader,
A family-run Domaine passed down the generations it may be, but François Crochet was not one to settle for merely taking over from his father. He left home to study in Beaune and then put some harvests under his belt in Marsannay with Bruno Clair, in New Zealand and even in Bordeaux at Château Angélus. François returned to the Domaine in 1998 and released his first vintage from the 2000 growing season.
Crochet’s vineyard holdings are spread across thirty parcels, mainly around Bué. Of the 12 hectares, 7.35 hectares are planted to Sauvignon blanc and at least two-thirds of this is planted on the chalky-limestone soils of the region known as caillottes. The balance of the Sauvignon blanc is split between parcels on Kimmeridgian limestone with clay (terres blanches), and parcels on silex or flint.
Harvest is carried out entirely by hand. The grapes are sorted by hand back at the cellar. Everything is done with the utmost care. Sauvignon Blanc grapes are pressed using pneumatic equipment, before the juice is transferred to a mix of steel tanks and old oak vats for the fermentation. All of the wines are certified organic with biodynamic principles adopted in the vineyard.
Fruit is hand harvested and whole bunch pressed making for pure, delicate fruit quality with lower thiols. This results in restrained fruit characters and impeccable clarity throughout the range. Rebecca Gibb MW for Vinous (August 2021)
There are two vintages making up today’s release offer: 2019 and 2020. Below you will find a mixed case we have put together, consisting of the Domaine Sancerre blanc and then two of the terroir-driven cuvées in ”Les Amoureuses” and ”Le Grand Chemarin”.
The straight Sancerre blanc is produced from vineyards planted on the three types of soil (more or less 80% caillottes, 10% terres blanches and 10% silex). The wine is aged on its fine lees for nine months in stainless steel.
”Les Amoureuses” is produced from 30-year-old vines from three different parcels. The cuvée name is taken from the soil which is a heavy clay that gives the feet that stuck-in-the-mud sensation – as if soil and sole of the shoe were in love, hence ”amoureuses”. The pressed juice is fermented in steel and the wine allowed to remain on its lees for nearly a year.
”Le Grand Chemarin” is a mere 0.18 hectares planted on a looser composition of limestone. Vinification takes place in stainless steel, with élevage in used wooden demi-muids (600L).
François Crochet
Sancerre blanc
2020
Appellation Sancerre Contrôlée
2 x bottles
François Crochet
Sancerre blanc
”Les Amoureuses” 2020
Appellation Sancerre Contrôlée
2 x bottles
François Crochet
Sancerre blanc
”Le Grand Chemarin” 2019
Appellation Sancerre Contrôlée
2 x bottles
R 3,040
per six-bottle mixed case
Outside of the above mixed case, we have a very limited amount of two other cuvées – two of Crochet’s very best wines. These are available on their own, but limited to six bottles per person.
”Le Chêne Marchand” is a lieu-dit in Bué. The vines are around 40 years of age and planted in caillottes soil.
The cuvée ”Exils” (an anagram of silex) is produced from a parcel of young vines on a slope overlooking the Loire in Thauvenay, to the east of Bué and south-east of Sancerre.
François Crochet
Sancerre blanc ”Exils”2020
Appellation Sancerre Contrôlée
R 595 per bottle
François Crochet
Sancerre blanc ”Le Chêne Marchand” 2019
Appellation Sancerre Contrôlée
R 550 per bottle
The Sancerre rosé is produced from a single plot of south and south-east facing 20-year-old Pinot noir vines on clay-chalk soils. The Pinot is very lightly pressed (as opposed to bled off the skins or gently macerated) to achieve the colour here.
François Crochet
Sancerre rosé
2021
Appellation Sancerre Contrôlée
R 390 per bottle
François Crochet, vigneron à Marcigoué – Bué, is without doubt one of the finest producers of Sancerre on the fine wine stage. We are very proud to be able to make his wines available in South Africa. We hope you get to enjoy them as much as we do.
