François Cotat Sancerre ‘Les Monts Damnés' 2023

From the late 1940s, brothers Paul and Francis Cotat built an unrivalled reputation for long-lived, terroir-driven Sancerres that transcend the reputation of Sauvignon Blanc as a simple white wine for early drinking. On taking over the domaine in the mid 1990s, their sons, François and Pascal, divided the holdings and began to work independently.

Faithfully carrying on the family tradition – and in stark contrast to the heavy machinery and chemical usage adopted by many of the appellation’s vignerons – François tends 5ha of vines by hand and using meticulous organic farming across Sancerre’s finest sites.

In a converted garage-cellar in the village of Chavignol, he shuns the modern technology embraced by many of his peers, using a non-interventionist approach to vinify tiny yields of late-harvested fruit with indigenous yeasts. After ageing in ancient 600L casks, his wines are bottled according to the phases of the moon and without filtration.

From near-vertical, south-facing slopes, ‘Les Monts Damnés’ and ‘La Grande Côte’ walk a tightrope between fruit concentration and stony minerality; ‘Les Culs de Beaujeu’ – from François’ oldest vines – is powerful and deeply layered; and ‘Caillottes’ – from younger vines on pebbly soils – delicate and lacy. From 0.5ha of Pinot Noir, François produces a miniscule amount of his crystalline and ageworthy rosé.

With the domaine’s longstanding fanbase drawn to the superlative quality and affordability of its reference point Sancerres, Cotat’s bottles have become one of the Loire’s hardest allocations to secure.