2020 Domaine Dominique et Janine Crochet Cuvee Prestige Sancerre 750 ml

We fought for a half-decade for our first allocation of Dominique et Janine Crochet’s Sancerre Cuvée Prestige, which was one of the most well-received white wines in our history. Now, we have the 2020 Cuvée Prestige, which hails from one of Sancerre’s greatest-ever vintages.

For years, Danny Meyer’s NYC restaurants like Gramercy Tavern, Union Square Cafe, and Manhatta took nearly every bottle of this endlessly complex wine, and whenever we’d visit New York, we’d sip Crochet’s crystalline Sancerre (happy to pay $20 per glass). It’s their finest wine, made only in the best vintages—which means lucky drinkers only get to taste it once or twice per decade.

Given the quality of the 2020 season and the producer, a price-tag north of $60 wouldn’t be unreasonable—after all, producers like Cotat and Boulay regularly command those sums for their finest wines—but our members have access for just $29. 

Brilliant greenish-yellow to the rim, this Sancerre is infused with a mouthwatering nose of apple, pear and quince, tinged with anise. The palate is ripe and full-bodied, with a rich texture and complexity that’s as layered as Damascus steel, before a long finish that ends with a pleasant sharpness, drawing you back in for another sip.

NYC’s love affair with the highly mineral, refreshing Sauvignon Blancs of Sancerre is well documented. But as every sommelier knows, all Sancerres aren’t made equal. The richest, most finely structured and refined wines are grown in three villages perched just a few kilometers apart—Verdigny, Bué, and Chavignol—where steep hillside plantings are littered with chunks of precious limestone.

Hailing from Bué, winemaker Teddy Crochet was a celebrated rugby star before returning to his family’s estate as an eager apprentice to his dad, Paul. Sadly, Paul passed suddenly a decade ago. So, Teddy did what is expected of a young winegrower: He hung up his cleats, donned oversized blue overalls, and got to work, injecting his youthful energy into the vines and the cellar—and now turns out brilliant whites that stand tall with those of his illustrious neighbors. 

He captured every drop of sunshine in the 2020 vintage, one of the greatest in the history of Sancerre. It was an easy year, start-to-finish, with a wet spring that gave the vines plenty of water to deal with a long, warm growing season. 

As is tradition in the great vintages, rather than allotting every Sauvignon bunch to Sancerre Blanc, Crochet plucked the most pristine grapes from the sorting table and fermented them separately. Much of this minuscule bottling, aptly named Prestige, is depleted by Sancerre locals. This year, the rest is for Wine Access members.