Domaine François Crochet, Sancerre Blanc, Les Amoureuses, Loire, France, 2023

Producer Profile

To the southwest of the town of Sancerre, lies the tiny commune of Bué. Here you find François Crochet single handedly managing his 10 hectares.

Doing much of the work in the vineyards himself, he is committed to hand harvesting to help maintain the quality of the resulting wine. Unable to make enough wine to keep pace with demand these wines are some of the most precise and refined Sancerres you will ever get to taste.

Viticulture

The fruit for Les Amoureuses comes from two individual parcels grown on clay-limestone soils. Its name derives from the fact that, when it rains, the clay soil in these parcels becomes heavy and sticky. According to a local saying, when the soil sticks to your shoes it means that the soil is in love or “amoureuse”. These vines are over 55 years old. Cover crops are planted between the vines and grass is mown and hoed down the rows to remove weeds between each vine in the row. Debudding in spring and summer, the harvest is carried out when the grapes are perfectly ripe, hand harvested and rigorously sorted. The harvest date is set after analysis of the juice and tasting of both grapes and juice in order to achieve perfect maturity. The yield aimed for this cuvée varies between 40 and 50 hl per ha.

Winemaking

Grapes are hand-harvested and carried to the cellar in a bin fitted with a vibrating system and transported into the pneumatic press by conveyor belt. Whole grape pressing combined with a sequential program allow a very gentle extraction of the juice. After a settling period, the juice is racked and the alcoholic fermentation begins. Les Amoureuses is fermented in 20Hl tronc conique oak vats using indigenous yeast. It is left to mature on its fine lees for 18 months. Cold settling and filtering on cellulose plates take place before bottling.

Tasting Note

The nose is refined, dominated by floral notes and a hint of honeydew melon and white peach. The most powerful of Francois’ wines, the palate reflects the clay content of the soil and is rich and robust.

Food Matching

A good match for lighter meat dishes such as poultry and pork.