Bué is one of Sancerre’s quality hot-spots. Like Chavignol or Ménétréol, it is home to many venerated vineyards and quite a few exceptional producers. In this newsletter we have two: Lucien Crochet (whose rosé is... Read More

Bué is one of Sancerre’s quality hot-spots. Like Chavignol or Ménétréol, it is home to many venerated vineyards and quite a few exceptional producers. In this newsletter we have two: Lucien Crochet (whose rosé is a few stories down) and Vincent Pinard, arguably Bué’s best winemakers.

Bué is known for its gentle hills of oxfordian limestone, aka ‘caillotes’, and its elegant, perfumed wines, which are both sophisticated and approachable. Pinard veers from the script slightly, though, aiming for brisker, sharpened expressions of the region’s terroir. His racy, crystalline whites seem impervious to Europe's ever-warming vintages.

Preserving the zip that We've come to expect from Sancerre is something we really appreciate, though it must be a challenge. Pinard however, has the chops and resumé, coming from generations of Sancerrois winemakers dating back to the 1600s.

He’s also somewhat of a fanatic, well-known for being meticulous in the vineyard and cellar. He farms organically and harvests by hand, selecting the best fruit. Yields are low for the region.

While Pinard does produce a few single-vineyard wines, he also makes some remarkably good ‘blends.’ They are far from generic, and qualify as some of the best in the entire Sancerre region.