Pierre Martin, 2024 Update
The voice was unfamiliar, but the volume was impressive. And as it was calling my name – a couple of times, in quick succession – I was compelled to turn, and see who owned this particular bellow.
And it was Pierre Martin.
A complete joy for me, as I was reflecting only recently on how long it has been since I last saw Pierre Martin, a young and under-rated vigneron of Chavignol, in the Sancerre appellation. I first met Pierre back in 2013, and was struck by the quality of his wines, and after that first encounter I would taste with him quite regularly. But quite a few years have passed since we last met up which, looking back at my notes, was in 2018. I can lay the blame for a couple of those years at the feet of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the rest I will have to take responsibility for myself.
Our greetings done, we set about tasting his wines. Two or three of them were brut de cuve samples from the 2023 vintage, at the time not in bottle, and I have allocated those notes to a forthcoming ‘first taste’ report on this vintage. Which means the focus of this report is the 2022 vintage. We started with Pierre’s domaine-level white, and I was glad to see he still produces his two single vineyard cuvées from Chavignol’s most renowned terroirs, Les Monts Damnés and Les Culs de Beaujeu.
