Shocking Chasselas: Don't Miss
2013 Lucas Vin de Savoie Marin
Extreme Purity
I've been hearing about Dominique Lucas and his mind-bending Chasselas for three years.
When the now famous wines of Belluard first became available on the East Coast, the importer started talking about a friend of Belluard's "who's making the best Chasselas I've ever tasted."
I kept asking about it, but nothing materialized for years. It wasn't until a few months ago that I was able to get my hands on any. The short story is: when you taste Lucas' wines, you'll never look at Chasselas the same way.
Lucas produces a tiny, tiny amount and as far as Chasselas and the Savoie goes, he has a quite a following. The wines seem to disappear shortly after release.
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Taste Lucas' wines and you'll immediately get it. They are so purely mineral, so beautifully textured... just flat out stunning.
We have less than a handful of cases and this offer doesn't make much sense other than making a small group of people aware of a really good wine. And, when it comes to Lucas, that's all the justification that we need.
Chasselas doesn't have a stellar reputation. For most, it's a simple wine to quaff without much thought after a day of skiing. Throughout Switzerland, France and Germany (where it's called Gutedel), you get maybe a handful of examples of the grape that are truly impressive. For me, Lucas' is on a whole different level. I love its energy, its tension and its overall intrigue and complexity.
Dominique Lucas comes from a family of Burgundian winemakers, but instead of returning to Burgundy after oenology school he settled in the Savoie on the border of Switzerland in and around the AOC Crépy near Lake Leman. Marin, where today's wine comes from, is just south of Crépy. Here he works biodynamically and vinifies the wines in an assortment of concrete eggs, barrels and amphorae.
The friendship with Belluard certainly helps to explain the concrete eggs. It also helps to situate just how pure, rigorous and compelling the wines are. The wines boast a crystal clear cut with precise floral and citrus notes that's backed by a stony minerality and a subtle, building complexity on the long finish.
Like Belluard, Lucas provides a strong argument for the heights that Savoie can reach in the hands of a careful, thoughtful winemaker. In short, these are eye-opening, impressive wines.
To order, reply to this email or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits