Domaine Ricard Les Trois Chenes 2020

Year in and year out, one of my favorite Sauvignon Blancs in the world is Vincent Ricard’s inimitable Trois Chenes. I love a maverick so if you remember the story, I apologize but it’s too good not to hit the highlights for our newer readers. 

Vincent’s father – like all the grape farmers of the small village of Thésée-La-Romaine, did as they always had done – tried to produce as much fruit as humanly possible in the vineyard to haul down to the village cooperative and sell by the ton – quality by damned. 

Young Vincent – protegé to the Silex-style of Dagueneau – who had just returned to the family’s estate had another plan all together. He would work all summer long, tending the vines by hand, aggressively trimming the vines, leaving profits to spoil on the ground. Each day the old men of the village would pull up chairs and watch him work – amused by all his hard work. 

But the fun and games were all over once the wine bottled under the family name and finally released. It was sublime, completely out of this world – easily competing with the wines of Sancerre four to five times the price. So the old men sprang to action and they sued Vincent for making wine ‘too good’ or out of type for the region – knowing there was no way they could possibly compete.