Top Pick Pascal Cotat "les Monts Damnes" Sancerre Blanc 2023 Set [ur08hVpD]

Alcohol: 13.5%

Grape(s): Sauvignon Blanc

Localization: Loire Valley, France

Tasting Notes: This is full-bodied, impossibly mineral, and occasionally botrytis-tinged Sauvignon with the doors blown off. The palate is initially rich, with a real feeling of density and viscosity, but then the classic Monts Damnés minerality kicks in; the wine is fine, elegant and chalky with an intense freshness that leaves a clean and energetic finish.

The Domain: 

Cotat Sancerre is simply some of the most singular Sauvignon Blanc in the world. Similar to his cousin François, Pascal Cotat crafts uncanny wines that defy both time and definition. These are wines that can age for decades effortlessly, and that marry a plush richness with a laser-like cut and energy.

The Cotat family has tended both Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir on the slopes of the fabled Monts Damnés in Chavignol since the end of World War II; it was only in the 1990s when the two Cotat brothers, Paul and Francis, handed over the family domaine to their sons, François and Pascal, respectively.

Today there are two wineries—one in Chavignol, headed by François Cotat, and one in Sancerre, run by Pascal Cotat—yet both cousins craft wines from older Sauvignon Blanc vines in Chavignol’s most-prized vineyards.