93 pts Vinous
The 2022 Le Chêne Marchand is a blend of five parcels that make up 1.5ha out of this lieu dit's 27ha size. The wine exudes a rare clarity and precision. It is medium-bodied at most and has a supple tenderness on the mid-palate from this fleshy, warm season. It's a style that exudes a sense of effortlessness while retaining its shape. The palate shows a little oak, but this will be digested over time. - By Rebecca Gibb MW on July 2024

• Terroir: Caillottes: lay, marne and small limestone pebbles
• Vines: 40 year-old vines, Guyot trained
• Farming: Certified Organic, practicing Biodynamic.
• Winemaking: De-stemmed grapes fermented in steel for 3 weeks
• Aging: aged in old forty-hectoliter tronconic French oak vats

If there were ever a hierarchical classification of Sancerre, there is no doubt that Le Chêne Marchands would share the top spot with but a few others. Straight out of the bottle it’s polished and exhibits a complex range of aristocratic mineral notes, friendly but taut citrus and white stone fruits, sweet herbs, fresh grasses with an immense amount of purity and laser-sharp focus. Sometimes Le Chêne Marchands seems almost too multi-dimensional, too good at everything. But with every swirl and sip another intriguing layer of aroma and taste springs from the glass. The soils are what start this stunning wine on its course; its forty-year-old vines are planted on a beautifully balanced soil of clay, marne and small limestone pebbles. Wines grown on this limestone formation tend to be brighter, beautiful, less intense and the most accessible for earlier consumption compared to those on the limestone bedrock known as terres blanches (the same Kimmeridgian marls found in Chablis), or those from silex bedrock in the south and eastern part of the appellation. The combination of this south-facing, high altitude, wind-exposed plateau and the density of limestone rocks (that they call “caillottes”) unearthed from below, help to electrically charge this wine.

Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous Media on Crochet:
In Bué, François Crochet is one of the most impressive producers in the appellation, with great attention to detail. From 2023, the vineyards have been certified as both organic and biodynamic. All of the 12ha are harvested by hand before being whole bunch pressed, making for pure, delicate fruit quality with lower thiols, leading to restrained fruit characters and impeccable clarity throughout the range. Since 2019, only wild yeasts have been used in the winery. While the wines from the current 2022 vintage display the richness of the warm season, they remain balanced and carefully made. From early tastes of the 2023 vintage, the domaine’s Sancerre Blanc is a very well-made example. From a tricky vintage with high yields, the unfinished tank samples of Crochet’s show rare concentration, which is a welcome surprise. Two green harvests were surely key to this. The current crop of 2022 Pinot Noirs is deftly handled and ripe, allowing for ripe stems and a high proportion of whole bunches, but they are well-balanced and have longevity. The domaine’s lieux dits, parcels in Petit Chemarin, Grand Chemarin and Le Chêne Marchand, are limestone-based (calcaire/griottes/terres blanches), providing tenderness on the mid-palate with a fine chalky veil on the finish. However, each has its own personality: Le Petit Chemarin has a higher proportion of clay in the soil, giving roundness in addition to the winemaking influence of 18 months on lees in large foudres, while Le Chêne Marchand shows great power.