We are delighted to have worked once again with the dependable David Sautereau to produce our 2017 Sancerre. The fruit here is grown on three different soil types, caillottes, terres blanches and marnes, giving the wine perfume, fruit and structure. The warm and sunny growing season has provided a generous wine, packed with yellow fruit notes and rounded off with a pleasant and refreshing citrus bitterness.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd

A truly unique wine, with a very pale onion skin colour thanks to a couple of hours skin contact and then direct pressing method of rose production. A gastronomic rose that is very restrained in style with citrus and subtle rose perfume. The palate displays intense acidity and a mineral core that would make this a perfect partner to shellfish and goats cheese.
Fiona Hayes - Buyer

This wine is named after the two-hectare south-facing vineyard from which the fruit is sourced. Benefitting from a clement climate  (grapes ripening 10 days earlier here than in Sancerre), Denis not only grows grapes, but also tends to a forest of oak trees from which his barrels are made.

Sunny and seductive, with aromas of pear, lychee and ripe citrus. The full, rich palate flirts with excess, but only flirts – there’s racy acidity throughout. Try this with oriental dishes or a Caribbean curry.

Pouilly-Fumé, La Rambarde, Domaine Landrat-Guyollot, Loire
The Landrat-Guyollot family have been viticulturalists in the region of Nivers since 1686. Trade increased to Paris once the river Loire became navigable, from the 16th century onwards, with families such as the Landrat-Guyollots using dinghies (les rambardes) to ferry wine to the capital.
Current winemaker Sophie represents the family’s 10th generation. Today the estate has 16.5 hectares across the region, all vinified with no oak.

Fitting the Fumé profile to a T, with its struck-flint smokiness, this is a brilliant example from the Loire. The limpid colour matches the clarity of the citrus and white stone-fruits which create a harmony with the mineral notes.

The nose is classic Pouilly-Fumé, with aromas of citrus, apple and grass, as well as a beguiling smoky note. The palate is relatively rich (owing to a warm vintage) yet fresh, with a long, mineral finish. This works a treat with dishes as diverse as goats’ cheese, oysters or tomates farcies.

This is an exemplary Sancerre, raised in a combination of stainless steel and large oak foudres, which add breadth to the palate but no discernible oaky aromas – indeed, the nose is a paean to Sauvignon Blanc, with aromas including grass, gooseberry and passionfruit. There’s a slight smoky character to the long, fresh finish. A memorable match for warm goats’ cheese.
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant, summer 2018.

This gorgeous Sancerre is blended from parcels across three soil types, primarily pebbly limestone. There’s a subtle tropical fruit aroma, as well as notes of ripe citrus and apple. Raised entirely in stainless steel, the palate is tense and mineral, with crisp acidity despite the warm vintage. A great apéritif and versatile food wine.

François Cotat produces idiosyncratic, complex and age-worthy Sancerres from his tiny three-hectare estate at the heart of the prized Chavignol commune which lies on Kimmeridgian clay and Caillotte soils. Such is the steepness of the slopes that cultivation is arduous and must be done entirely by hand. The grapes are late-picked for maximum flavour and, in the winery, François adopts a very traditional, non-interventionist approach, barrel-fermenting the juice in old demi-muids using natural yeasts.

This pale, salmon pink rosé is a perfect example of what the Pinot Noir grape is capable of in the famous region of Sancerre. The nose is loaded with fresh strawberry aromas and herbaceous notes while the palate is fresh and fruity with a crisp, lively acidity. A lovely wine to match light summer dishes.

Francois Cotat’s wines are held in very high esteem by those in the know and his Sancerre Rose is no exception. It rises above other wines in its category with its structure and complexity and has a capacity to age to boot. It has beautiful Pinot Noir fruit characters which are balanced against a lovely freshness, taught acidity and a mineral and almost saline finish. It would be a great match for a wide range of dishes including shellfish, salmon or lightly spiced Asian dishes.
Oliver Barton, Wine Buyer

The 2016 vintage in Sancerre more closely approximates the excellent, lean 2014 than the riper 2015. Our friends Messrs Dezat have created an archetypal example of the vintage: classic aromas of flint, citrus fruit and verbena predominate, followed by a typically satisfying mouth-feel which juxtaposes classic Loire tension with an almost paradoxical richness on the finish. Drink now to 2019.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer

The only wine in the range that is a blend of fruit from more than one vineyard – one third from marl and two thirds from flinty soil over a richer clay base. From younger vines, and the most accessible of the Domaine’s wines when young. This is a very pure, crisp and focused expressed of Sauvignon Blanc. While the gooseberry and verbena characters of the grape are present, this has much, much more. From tropical pineapple, to fleshy stone fruit and glorious refreshing acidity. There is a smokiness echoed by mineral, lime rich finish that lingers.

If you enjoy any of the top New Zealand Sauvignons (Cloudy Bay, Dog Point et al), Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé then these wines should be categorised as ‘must buys’, they are truly excellent examples of what is possible with Sauvignon Blanc. 
Laura Atkinson-Godwin, Private Account Manager

Established and forged into one of the world’s top Domaines by larger-than-life Didier Dagueneau, the estate has been run by his son Louis-Benjamin and daughter Charlotte following his father’s untimely death in 2008. Louis-Benjamin has continued very much in his father’s footsteps, with intense focus and complete dedication to producing wines that many consider to be the ultimate expression of Sauvignon Blanc. 

Their vineyards are worked meticulously following organic principles with great attention to detail in the winery includes a finely-tuned element of ageing in large oak barrels to produce wines that Louis-Benjamin describes as a ‘compromise between richness and freshness’. The wines have been described as pushing the concept of terroir to the extreme.

Critics have always marvelled at the wines from both Didier and now from Louis-Benjamin, Andrew Jefford didn’t hold back: “His (Didier Dagueneau’s) wines smelled not of Sauvignon Blanc ... but of spring, like standing beneath a waterfall: the flavours were clean, limpid eerily palpable, a soft shock.” 
David Schildknecht of Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate was equally effusive:  “Tasting at this address has never been more exciting and the wines have never been more evidently at the summit of the Loire Sauvignon pecking order.

From the Domaine’s oldest vines, up to 80 years old, planted in tightly-packed soil made up of larger flints and clay. The flaghip wine of the Domaine combining richness, breadth and power with minerality and freshness.

The parcels of vines which make-up Didier's 'Silex' cuvee must be among his most coveted: great boulders of flint, old vines and perfect St. Andelain sites combine to deliver a voluminous and brilliantly pure wine of stature.

Richer, ‘bigger’ nose than Les Caillottes Anise/fennel. A step up in concentration. Excellent balance of acidity and fruit. Mineral, with outstanding potential. Still a little closed but excellent length. Very little sugar, less than 3g/l. Most immediately appealing of the selection.
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 

Clean, fresh, nose. Grapefruit. Nice concentration of citrus fruit. Crisp, correct and mineral. Good acidity. Tension. Not exactly what one has come to expect from François Cotat in recent vintages, yet a clear demonstration (and vindication) of the decision to pick earlier this year, but by no means a simple or frivolous wine. An excellent example of Sancerre.
Adam Bruntlett 

Showing pretty white peach, this is a relaxed wine with detailed aromas, reflected on a suave, spellbindingly silky & effortless palate. It may be the early drinking Sauvignon Blanc of the Cotat range yet it’s on another planet in terms of finesse & detail when compared to other producers who label their wines as ‘Sancerre’, probably on account of lower yields, hand-picked harvest and the use of natural/wild yeasts! Drinking from 2014 to 2022. David Berry Green 

Nose very closed. Real richness here – definitely noticeable sugar (9g/l). Fruit and general feeling of weightiness, balanced with searing acidity. Reminiscent of a Savennières wine. A perception of warmth but everything works well. A big wine in all senses, rendering it beautifully balanced. Needs time, but will be the star of  François Cotat’s 2012 wines.
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