Sancerre-La-Croix-du-Roy-Lucien-Crochet-Loire-France

Producer: Lucien Crochet’s great-grandfather married into the Picard family, who had been winegrowers in Sancerre since 1765, and thus laid the foundations of Domaine Lucien Crochet.

The estate now owns thirty-one hectares of vineyards planted in various parts of four communes in the Sancerre appellation, including the largest single holding of vineyard property in Bué. Hand-harvesting – a rarity in Sancerre – and the use of indigenous yeasts give particularly nuanced, elegant wines.

The soil on the east, south-east and south-west facing vineyards is a mixture of Oxfordian limestone, white earth and Kimmeridgian marls. All grapes were hand picked.

Whole bunches of grapes were transferred to pneumatic presses on a conveyor belt, in order to avoid bruising on the skins. After cold settling, the must underwent fermentation in thermo-regulated tanks for approximately thirty days with frequent stirring. The wine was racked late, and bottled a few months later.