Sancerre
Sancerre is a famous white Sauvignon Blanc appellation located on the left bank of the Loire. Its 14 communes are widely dispersed, covering nearly 3,000 hectares over vertiginous valleys at up to 350 metres above sea level, and three distinct soil types. As with nearby Pouilly-Fumé, an increasing number of single-vineyard wines are being raised in French oak, mostly 500-litre and demi-muids.
Sancerre is a famous white Sauvignon Blancanc appellation located on the left bank of the Loire, across from Pouilly-Fumé.
While Pouilly-Fumé's vineyards are tightly clustered and homogeneous, Sancerre's 14 communes (including the great villages of Chavignol, Bué, Verdigny, Amigny and Ménétréol) are widely dispersed, covering nearly 3,000 hectares over vertiginous valleys at up to 350 metres above sea level, and three distinct soil types: silex, a white flint found around Sancerre and Ménétréol in particular, giving perfume and a fine structure; terres blanches, a calcareous clay soil that whitens as it dries (widely distributed), delivering a full, fruity richness; and caillottes, a Portlandian soil brimming with large limestones imparting both power and verve – as found in Sancerre, Chavignol and Bué.
A fourth soil type, griottes, tightly-packed with small limestones, has also been identified – as found near the village of Vosges. Kimmeridgean clay crops up less consistently than in Pouilly-Fumé and since most Sancerre, bar the single-vineyard wines, are a blend of soils the result is a richer, fuller and fleshier Sauvignon Blanc.
As with Pouilly-Fumé, an increasing number of (single-vineyard) wines are being raised in French oak, mostly 500-litre and demi-muids; little surprise in light of naturally higher alcohol levels due to global warming. Sancerre Rouge is also made from Pinot Noir, the quality of which is often compromised by bleeding some of the juice to make rosé – Vincent Pinard is a master nonetheless.
Recommended producers: François Cotat, André Dezat, David Sautereau
Top vineyards include: Les Monts Damnés, La Grande Côte, Le Cul de Beaujeu, Grand (and Petit) Chemarin, Chêne Marchand
Prices:
Bottle
£17.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl 332cs
Bottle
£19.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 14cs
Bottle
£19.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle
£20.76
Bottle
£22.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 36cs
A clean, crisp and quiet wine – the nose is restrained and green with lime zest, chalk, minerals and a grassy hint. Crunchy pear and a verdant edge show on the straight, restrained palate with a zing of acidity.
Bottle
£22.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle
£25.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 4cs
David Berry Green - Loire buyer
At just 1ha30 in size, this is the biggest parcel held by the domaine. There is a real feeling of biting into a grape here, as the sudden burst of ripe, fleshy fruit takes you aback. The juicy white peach flavours then give way to a fine core of mineral tension, leaving the overall impression of fragility and delicacy underneath the initial brash exterior.
Gary Owen - Private Account Manager
Bottle
£56.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle
£57.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 8cs
Bottle
£57.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 7cs
David Berry Green BBR Buyer
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Francois Cotat has four plots among this large but consistently fine vineyard; a vineyard that stretches the breadth of the village's eastern escarpment, so facing west. Containing vines of approx. 30 yo, it's a wine that will grow grow, but should be drinkable from 2014/5.
The 2009 vintage was influenced by hail, draught hence an earlier smaller than average harvest, this is one of those rich sunny years where the personality of the vintage comes through stronger than that of the vineyard. Though Francois Cotat's 2009s come in at c. 15% abv they are balanced by the inherent minerality of his exceptional vineyards. (Such has been the climatic change that Francois hasn't needed to chaptalise since the 2004 vintage.)
Francois Cotat continues to make wine as his father Paul did; the domaine being born out of the split with Pascal Cotat in 1988. Francois joined the tiny but perfectly sited property in 1999, continuing to hand-harvest the fruit that is then vinified using wild yeasts aged in 80 yo oak barrels without any intervention. Francois reasons that the use of wild as opposed to selected yeasts enable his to be more digestible reflective of their origins. Neither fined nor filtered Francois continues to judicious levels of sulphur to guide the wines to full maturity. He follows the lunar cycle.
(David Berry Green)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Adam Bruntlett
Francois’s Monts Damnés is clearly the best example of this famous Sancerre Cru! Faithful to the nervy vintage, this wine is cool, compact, a taut, tightly coiled core of briny minerality, such tension, his use of old oak in vinification giving this wine a spectacular Island malt saltiness, very succinct, needs time, plenty of time, drinking from 2015 to 2025.
David Berry Green
Adam Bruntlett
Sancerre La Grande Côte is the summit of Francois Cotat’s range, and justly so, from a magical vineyard on the border of Chavignol and Amigny, the 2012 example is taut, leesy, pure salin, delicate, more generous on the palate but also more structured, more unresolved, more complicated, less prepared to embrace you. Needs plenty of time, drink from 2017 to 2027.
David Berry Green
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd