2008 Domaine François Cotat Sancerre La Grande Cote

Persian melon, lime, white peach, iris, and green tea in the nose of Francois Cotat’s 2008 Sancerre La Grande Cote lead to a succulent, very subtly sweet palate loaded with melon and peach and infused with green tea, mint, and nut oils. There is a lovely (at least metaphorically) cooling as well as soothing and wafting sense to this, yet it preserves transparency through which shimmer chalky, saline, somehow crystalline suggestions of things mineral. Here is a great example of the elegance that is possible from this great site, even in a wine of close to 14% alcohol, and based on the track record chez Cotat, I suspect this will be well worth following for 12-15 years. In a sign of the vintage, Francois Cotat’s lightest wine from 2009 was his rose, which weighed in at 14.5% alcohol. The Sauvignons cluster around 15%. Cotat compares this vintage with 1989, whose wines were similarly ripe and full, but aren’t exactly classic Cotat, nor the most interesting of mature Cotat wines to enjoy today. That said, there is always an element of mystery in the glass (and not only there) at this address, and I’ll gladly be made a fool of by an old Cotat wine, which might one day turn out to be a 2009. (For more information about recent developments chez Cotat, see my report in issue 172.) A Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93