2013 Sancerre La Grande Cote

Paul Cotat can walk to or from all of his vineyards in little more than the time it takes you to bat your eye. When I arrived, his mother called him and he was soon back, boots and all. The portable phone is about all the technical equipment he has. Everything else on his four hectares of vineyard is done by hand. He doesn't even own a tractor. After he changed his shirt, we went across the courtyard to the cellar to taste the last two vintages and a few older bottles to discern how Sancerre made in this style matures. The 2013s were still in their 600-liter casks, but were about to be made ready for bottling without fining or filtration. Normally he does not chaptalize but did so this year for the first time since 2004. The vintage also had a bit of botrytis at the end of harvest. As he uses only wild yeasts, the fermentations were unusually prolonged, with some vats only just finishing their sugars at the time of my visit. Being the last in the village to harvest, though, is a practice that he is slowly beginning to question as it led to alcohol levels of 15% in 2009, admittedly a very warm year. As the soil at his three sites in Chavignol is all Kimmeridgian limestone, his policy of minimal intervention is meant to allow the individual vineyards to speak for themselves, which they do with considerable eloquence. The Caillottes, however, is a blend of the three that was introduced in 2005 to create an entry-level price point and improve the quality of what he calls his grand crus. As the 2012 shows, though, it can be an impressive wine in itself. We finished the tasting with two older bottles, including a surprisingly youthful 2001 that was harvested late in a vintage with a golden October. As Cotat makes only 30,000 bottles a year, his Sancerres have become cult sauvignon blancs that few people will ever have the opportunity to taste. He also makes a rosé that is one of the best in the region. (A Peter Vezan selection; importers include North Berkeley Imports, www.northberkeleyimports.com; Michael Skurnik Wines, www.skurnikwines.com and Dionysos Imports, www.dionysosimports.com)