2010 Sancerre Chavignol Les Caillottes

The Francois Cotat 2010 Sancerre Les Caillottes smells of caraway and lemon zest – which also characterize its palate piquancy – but juicy honeydew melon and Bosc pear serve for satisfying primary juiciness, with chalk and saliva-inducing salinity enhancing a refreshing and impressively sustained finish. This strikes a fine balance between fullness and vivacity, and clearly represents the finest effort thus far from these young vines that debuted in bottle in 2005. I would plan on following it over the next 4-6 years. 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