What Dominique Lucas does with the Chasselas grape is head-spinning.
And there are few times of year more perfectly suited to it than now.
They're crackling crisp mineral mountain wines with thrilling textural allure and complexity. Both Un Matin Face au Lac & Marin are lightweight (clocking in under 12% alcohol) and still feel complete and serious.
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Taste Lucas' Chasselas and you'll never look at the grape the same way. Chasselas doesn't have a stellar reputation. Most Chasselas are simple wines to quaff without much thought after a day of skiing. Lucas' are mind-bending examples of the grape.
Dominique Lucas comes from a Burgundian winemaking family, but decided to work in Savoie near Lac Leman (the French name for Lake Geneva). His wines immediately attracted a cult following. I'd been hearing about this game-changing Chasselas for years before I could even get my hands on a bottle to try.
Across the range, the wines have striking mineral purity, subtle textural complexity and boundless, citrus-animated energy. Simply put, it all adds up to thrilling drinking. And 2014 marks the vintage where things went into overdrive for Lucas. The wines have a crazy amount of rigor and depth.
Un Matin Face au Lac comes from soils of glacial moraine and clay. It's the slightly richer of the two wines with an enveloping minerality and complex layers of citrus. Marin comes from glacial moraine and granite soils. Neither of these are shy on acidity, but Marin is the more tensile and sharply mineral of the pair. For all of Marin's mountain purity and zip, there's a fascinating, building depth on the finish.
Both of these are profoundly exciting wines. Along with Belluard and one or two others, Lucas' wines show the heights that Savoie can reach in the hands of a careful, thoughtful winemaker. Lucas' wines appear and then rapidly disappear. Word has quickly gotten out about the wines. Please give us your ideal order and we'll try our best.
To order, email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits