2010 Sancerre Les Culs de Beaujeu
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Tasting notes
This comes from some of the lower slopes of the F Cotat holding in southern Chavignol. Smoky and fine and much less stinky than the Caillottes. Actually a pretty sweet start to the palate and then lots of fruit and freshness. Good balance. Very fine and satisfying. Introvert and smooth. Chewy end but much much less jagged than the Caillottes. They must have picked this very late! Not an aperitif style of wine however… (JR)
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
David Schildknecht, Wine Advocate
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Francois Cotat elected to leave his 2010 Sancerre Les Culs de Beaujeu with 8 grams of residual sugar, as it had already reached 14.5% alcohol: the highest of his classic trio in this vintage. The effect is like a liqueur of Sancerre (an expression I may well have used on some previous occasion, but which can scarcely have been more apt than on this one). Take herbal elixir; add mirabelle and rowan eau de vies, candied citrus rind and almond extract. Yes, it’s heady stuff – in its high-toned aromatic intensity as well as its voluminous, faintly warm palate presence: but that fits this wine’s soothing, enveloping character and its long-lasting concentration of herb, nut, and pit fruit essences. Cotat Sancerre has never shied away from making singular, memorably “atypical” statements and this one is written in bold letters. I suspect it will be worth following for 15 years or more, which counts as “the usual” for an outsized, subtly sweet wine from this estate. Given Francois Cotat’s (and before that, his father’s and uncle’s) penchant for late picking and the promoting of textural richness in sweetly ripe Sancerre, 2010 seemed destined to prove an ideal match for this estate, which began harvesting at the end of the first week in October, but did not finish until nearly month’s end. In the event, the wines that resulted are so diverse – in part extreme, even by estate standards – that generalization is fatuous. Cotat’s 2011s are good for some surprises too, again for being so different from one another, but also in how little marked one of their number is by the ripe manifestations of citrus and pit fruits one practically takes for granted at this address. After the 2010 vintage, Francois Cotat with regret pulled out the considerable expanse of impossibly unproductive 65-year-old vines that his grandfather had planted and that had in recent years contributed around 30% by volume to the Grande Cote bottling. But that still leaves vines of around 45 years average, and on their first appearance without their 65 year old elders, that team turned in a memorable 2011 performance. A Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93
About the producer
Sancerre’s leading producer, François Cotat is known for his idiosyncratic, age-worthy expressions of Sauvignon Blanc on Kimmeridgian soils, not to mention his prized rosé. Sometimes denied appellation status for their atypical style, these wines are some of the most collectable in the region.