2010 Domaine François Cotat Sancerre Chavignol Rosé

The partridge eye-tinted Francois Cotat 2010 Sancerre Rose delivers significant suggestions of lemon, yellow tomato, and red currant, and green herbs, but the sappy intensity of this substantial Sauvignon is devoted largely to what seems an essence of liquid stone and chalk. The finish comes off as rather austere on account of such pronounced minerality, but this will prove its worth at table if carefully paired over the next several years (there seldom need be any rush with a Cotat rose). Although Francois Cotat omitted trying to render a late-harvested selection in 2004, he has done so in every subsequent vintage (albeit not single vineyard-dedicated or labeled “speciale” as was long the family tradition). 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