france: loire_valley
Domaine Merlin-Cherrier, Sancerre
Thierry Merlin is the first producer I ever signed and he has been one of the most consistent. He works 11 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc in Bué, one of the principal hamlets surrounding the old walled town of Sancerre. That town, once a Protestant stronghold (sacked in the 16th century and again in the 17th), commands the highest hill above the Loire River amid a sea of hills. Bué occupies a small pocket-canyon west of Sancerre, and the hills rising above this village on three sides are covered in vines. Bué's soils have more compact chalk and less marl and clay than the neighboring villages of Chavignol or Verdigny, or Sancerre itself. As a result its sauvignons are distinguished by their perfume of citrus and minerals, their finesse, their precision.
Such are Thierry's wines. Quick to smile, hard-working, and a man of obvious intelligence, Thierry made his first wine in 1982 (superb when tasted in 2000) and has tried to do better each year. He is blessed with two tiny parcels of Chêne Marchand, the top vineyard in Bué and recognized as one of the Sancerre appellation's crown jewels—a certain candidate for grand cru status, were Sancerre's vineyards ever to be ranked. This vineyard grows on the western plateau above the village and may have been a vineyard since the Roman occupation. Thierry's precious 1.7 acres had been poorly managed, so he planted deep-rooted grasses to aerate the soil and other cover crops for their nutrients. Astonishingly, his commitment was such that he did this for ten years before he judged the soil to be ready again for vines. His Chêne Marchand ferments in vat with native yeast for about fourteen months, and is bottled unfined and normally unfiltered—it is a stunningly rich, opulent Sancerre with terrific length and minerality.
Download PDF Files: