Francois Cotat
Sancerre Les Monts Damnes
Loire Valley
2021

The producer

Pascal Cotat is one of the leading domaines of Sancerre, producing a traditional style of wines aged in oak. Both the vineyards (Les Monts Damnés and La Grande Côte) are located in Chavignol, east of the town of Sancerre. These are wines that can age for decades effortlessly, and that marry a plush richness with a laser-like cut and energy. Production from the 2.5 hectares of vineyards is extremely limited and highly sought after. 

“They are some of the finest Sauvignon Blancs I have ever put to my lips.” Robert Parker.

Cotat Sancerre is simply some of the most singular sauvignon blanc in the world, perhaps the truest example of a “vin de garage”, Pascal also being the proprietor of the local Peugeot garage in Sancerre. This domaine came to life after the French government ruled in the 1990s that “independent producers” could no longer sell the same wine under two different labels. Pascal’s father Francis Cotat and uncle Paul Cotat had been this doing since 1947, sharing the family’s vineyards and winery to produce wines that they each sold under their own label. They decided to use this ruling as an opportunity to retire and hand the mantle over to their respective sons Pascal and François, who split up the vineyard holding and started up their own labels from their own wineries.

The Cotat family has tended grapes on the slopes of the Monts Damnés (damned mountains) in Chavignol since the end of World War II. This very steep vineyard, named after the “mountain” (essentially a chalk plateau), is one of Chavignol’s finest; subsoils are pure chalk (the “terres blanches,” as is found in Chablis) with thin clay and limestone topsoils.

Cotat as a rule harvests by hand and very late, as pushing ripeness to the extreme is one element that gives these wines their weighty texture and complexity. While Cotat is not organically certified, his habits are more or less according to organic principles. He does not treat his vines with pesticides; uses only indigenous yeasts for fermentation; and follows the lunar cycle for racking. Wines are whole bunch pressed before being barrel-fermented in older demi-muids and aged in larger tonneaux. All wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The wine

Domaine François Cotat Sancerre Les Monts Damnés 2021 is a full-bodied, single-vineyard Sauvignon Blanc from the renowned Sancerre appellation in the Loire Valley. This wine is one of three iconic single-vineyard Sancerres produced by François Cotat, with grapes sourced from the esteemed, steep slopes of Les Monts Damnés, the most celebrated vineyard site in Sancerre. François Cotat crafts rich, complex, and ageworthy Sancerres that are highly sought after by wine enthusiasts. The terres blanches soils of Les Monts Damnés contribute to the creation of the most powerful and long-lived wines in the Sancerre region.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scors to our website in the future.