2011 Sancerre La Grande Cote

Francois Cotat’s 2011 Sancerre La Grand Cote – like its Monts Damnes counterpart – finished dry and with around 14.5% alcohol. Musky and otherwise haunting flora scents suggestive of narcissus, peony, and rowan are joined by grapefruit and herbal essences for a striking nose; then reemerge on a silken, expansive, succulent Persian melon- and bittersweet nut-oil-informed palate. It’s amazing the sense of primary juiciness and transparency to floral, nutty, herbal, and stony nuances conveyed in the long finish here, despite the wine’s overall richness and high alcohol (which here generates only the merest hint of heat). I would expect this Grande Cote to be worth following for at least a decade. 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