Just bottled the week I tasted it, and representing a mere third of a normal crop due to the loss to hail, the Vacheron 2009 Sancerre – which as usual mingles around half each flint and classic chalk soils – smells of pennyroyal, clover, blackcurrant, fennel, and very ripe honeydew melon. The melon and herb melange on the palate manages to have an at least metaphorically cooling not to mention a literally luscious effect, which is good considering there is 14.6% alcohol to deal with here. This might well be even more expressive now after having rested from bottling. I would however plan on enjoying it over the next couple of years, not longer, due to the vintage style and alcohol. Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique Vacheron’s sophisticated winery and ambitious plans (including commencing a program for re-propagating selection massale vines, and biodynamic certification, achieved in 2008) are the source for a great many fascinating Sancerres, and it’s clear to anyone who tastes through their cellar today and hears them discuss their wines that the best is yet to come. One of the trends I find fruitful here is the move toward larger barrels – including some foudres – and less new wood. Despite the advantages – all things considered – of 2008 over 2009 in Sancerre, the infant 2009s here display in some instances more finesse than their 2008 counterparts thanks in significant measure, I perceive, to refinements in elevage. The previous generations at Vacheron were appellation leaders in promoting Pinot Noir (a grape that has in fact been planted around Sancerre since before the phylloxera; and before Sauvignon) in top-notch rather than expendable sites, so that Pinot now makes up just over 25% of the domaine’s acreage. The younger Vacherons have eagerly followed that lead, although I must say I find their style of vinification in some recent vintages over-eager, with a degree of extraction and woodiness that the fruit seems inherently challenged to handle and the mineral character associated with Sancerre too austere to compliment. Whether American consumers will consider good enough value reds whose European reputation already assures them a high rate of return must simply sort itself out in the marketplace. Most of the Vacheron wines, incidentally – especially their reds – are released very late by local standards.A Jon-David Headrick Selection (various importers), Asheville, NC; tel. (828) 252 8245; also, a Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93
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