Product Description:

"Domaine Vacheron is one of Sancerre’s elite properties, producing Sancerre of amazing purity and definition. The Vacheron cousins own 1 hectare of vines in the lieu-dit of Le Paradis. Their plot is on a steep south-facing slope with shallow limestone soils. The soil is so thin and poor that the vine roots grow deeply into fissures in the bedrock below. Le Paradis is an explosively aromatic wine, dense on the palate with a broad mineral character kept in check by a sinuous acidity that keeps things lively. Hand harvesteded, natural yeast fermentation in tank. Aged 12 months in wooden vats.

The domaine has been completely transformed over to biodynamic farming with two young cousins, Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique Vacheron, at the helm. No synthetic material is used in the vineyard, harvests are carried out exclusively by hand, and the only fertilizer used is produced from the compost pile. Yields are kept extremely low. Having inherited some of the most coveted parcels in the appellation, the cousins are trying a Burgundian approach to Sancerre winemaking, with parcels being vinified separately and blends varying from year to year. At the domaine, Pinot Noir is not an afterthought, but a focus, and on soils just a couple of hours west of Burgundy, they are making grand, expressive bottlings from the varietal. While the attention to detail, the natural farming and focused winemaking are important, it is the soil structure that really shines through in these wines. While much of Sancerre lies on chalk soils, much of the Vacheron estate is planted on silex, which is flint over a clay and limestone base. This silex soil contains millions of tiny oceanic fossils, giving evidence that the entire region was once covered by the ocean. It produces wines of amazing minerality and acidity, with trademark smoky aromas. The famed “Les Romains” and “Belle Dame” vineyards in Sancerre are made up exclusively of this soil type and the Vacheron family owns some of the more important holdings in these parcels. As Jean-Dominique was recently quoted in the Revue de Vin de France, “We have not yet seen the sum of what one can do with Sauvignon in Sancerre.” We can’t wait to see what’s coming next." -Importer

"The 47 ha family estate is surely one of the finest Sancerre producers. Corresponding to Demeter, Biodyvin and Ecocert regulations for the past couple of years, three generations (with the two young cousins Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique Vacheron at the helm) cultivate their Sauvignon Blanc vines in the best limestone and/or silex sites and offer wines which are clear, precise and fresh but also pure, defined and thrillingly mineral and complex. Yields are kept extremely low here and harvest is done exclusively by hand. The cousins vinify (and partly bottle) their different parcels separately whereas the blend can vary from year to year. In contrast to most of the top producers in Sancerre the Vacherons cultivate their vines mostly on Silex (flint) soils which is to be found mainly in the eastern part of the appellation as well as in Pouilly-Fumé on the other side of the Loire river. This makes their wines firm, fresh if not piquant, very precise and rather vertical, even the reds. Wines from Vacheron often need some time to open up but they are really worth your patience." -Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate