Product Description

"Another Fête de Rosé is in the books and we’re highlighting our favorites! I am particularly enchanted by the 2016 Lucien Crochet Sancerre Pinot Noir Rosé which was one of the top wines of the Fest! It is simply one of the most delicious, luscious and vibrant rosés around! With its gorgeous salmon-pink color, fruit-rich nose (berries, cherries, citrus, watermelon), a kiss of minerality, and bracing acidity, this classic rosé will keep you coming back for more. This rosé, made from 100% Pinot Noir, is consistently brilliant and comes from a highly regarded producer with a rich history of family winemaking.

Summer is officially here and ’tis the season for rosé. Check out the Best of the Fest!" – Jim Knight, The Wine House(6/15/17)

Importer’s Notes:
Made exclusively of Pinot Noir harvested from several parcels a mix of Oxfordian "caillottes" and Kimmeridgian "marne". This Rosé is made using the direct press method with the whole berries entering the pressoir. The musts ferment in temperature-controlled cuves (85%) as well as a small percentage in older barrels (15%). The fermentation occurs over three weeks. The wines is bottled in the spring of the following year.

Lucien Crochet has long been a standout in our stable of classic rosés, and this 2016 is shaping up to be among the finest vintages we’ve yet encountered. Gilles produces this wine from younger Pinot Noir vines in the "La Croix du Roy" vineyard, reserving those vines over 25 years of age for his exemplary Sancerre Rouge. Made via direct pressing with no maceration, it offers a similarly chiseled limestone character as Crochet’s white wines, but with fruit pitched toward the vibrant-red zone of the spectrum. While 2016 was a challenging growing season in many parts of northern France, Crochet was fortunate to have harvested decent quantities of very healthy grapes. Compared to the rich, broad-shouldered 2015, this 2016 is similarly dense and concentrated, but with more vibrant acidity and a more energetic personality. It’s delicious even now (Gilles will bottle it in April), and it’s sure to develop beautifully with age-as it has done many vintages before. (February 2017)

"Both of my grandfathers, André Crochet and Lucien Picard, were winegrowers. In fact, in the early 1950s, Lucien Picard was one of the pioneers of bottling Sancerre wines in the region to be able to sell them in Paris. My father, Lucien Crochet, merged the two estates together. He developed relationships with the finest restaurants in Paris and it was only natural for the export markets to follow. Today, my wife Laurence, who is also the daughter of a Sancerre grower, and I oversee the estate while adding our own approach and sensitivity." – Lucien Crochet, Winemaker