Wine of the Year #1: Joe's Pick
2014 Lucas Savagnin
The 2014 vintage marks a point where Lucas’ wines clicked into overdrive.
Dominique Lucas’ 2014s are some of the most exciting wines I’ve tasted all year, especially the Savagnin.
I always agonize over my wine of the year. Frankly, the wine seems impossible. Instead, I search my memory for the wines that caused me to step back wide-eyed. Lucas’ 2014 Savagnin did just that.
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Lucas is from a winegrowing family in Burgundy, but he bought land near Lac Léman (the French name for Lake Geneva) in an obscure and beautiful corner of the already obscure Savoie region.
The wines almost immediately gained a cult following in France and we’ve been watching them for some time. They are exhilarating wines and it’s difficult not to take note of them.
Even for fans, in 2014 the wines hit a level that seemed unimaginable. There’s a shocking purity and mysterious depth to them.
The Savagnin grape is synonymous with the Jura, but if you use Jura as your point of reference, you’ll be blindsided when you taste Lucas’ Savagnin. (The vine material doesn’t even come from Jura, but instead from Switzerland.) The 2014 is purely mineral with a crystal clear cut and beautiful textural elements that add further complexity and intrigue.
Dominique Lucas started the estate in Marcorens, a small village with vines within the Crepy AOC. Lucas quickly left the AOC because he felt it supported fairly mediocre quality. His vines are planted in glacial moraine soils with heavy, broken down limestone and treated to biodynamic viticulture. The vine material, which includes everything from Chasselas to Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and the only Savagnin that we've seen in the Savoie, was carefully chosen mostly from Switzerland with some ungrafted Franc de Pied vines.
It seems that word is quickly getting out about Lucas' wines. In the past month, they've come up frequently in conversations. Everyone is shocked by how good these wines from an obscure corner are. The Savagnin is without a doubt one of the highlights of the line-up and one of the most fascinating bottles that I've tasted all year.
To order, email offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits