• Colour

  Rose

• Vintage

  2009

• Producer

  Francois Cotat

• Country

  FRANCE

• Region

  LOIRE

• Product code

  HCO09ROB12D

• Availability

  2 cases

Producer Information

The venerable Cotat estate holds vineyards in the top-rated village of Chavignol, making tiny quantities of absolutely unforgettable wines. There are 3 hectares situated on Kimmeridgian clay and Caillotte soils, where the steepness of the slopes (in the vineyards of Les Monts Damnes, Le Cul de Beaujeu and La Grande Cote) renders cultivation arduous. These wines are so distinctive that certain vintages were forbidden from using the Sancerre appellation, as they were deemed ‘atypical' for Sancerre owing to high residual sugar or alcohol levels. However they exhibit a perfect balance between fruit, minerality and acidity. From 1947 until the early 1990's, brothers Francis and Paul made a single cuvee in one cellar for each of their designated wines, but bottled under separate labels. Upon retiring, the Cotat brothers turned their vineyards over to each of their sons; Francis' son Pascal and Paul's son Francois. Today the cousins produce their wines in separate cellars, but each still practices the same traditional biodynamic winemaking techniques mastered by their fathers.

Robert Parker comments: 'Cotat produces old-style Sancerre, quite different from the norm found today...rich, full flavored, thick, and sometimes not bone dry. They are some of the finest Sauvignon Blancs I have ever put to my lips.'