“Back To the Garden” The Time-Tested Wines of François Cotat

The talented John Gilman has just published in his View from the Cellar newsletter an extensive article on Domaine Francois Cotat, including a detailed tasting list of vintages that go back decades.

For lovers of Cotat wines, this exhaustive, well-written article will pretty much answer any and every question about the Cotat family you could ever ask, or even imaging asking! A huge thanks to John for capturing so well the magic of Cotat Sancerre.

Click on the image to the right to download the article PDF. And if you enjoy reading it, consider a subscription to John’s View from the Cellar newsletter. We’re regular readers, as anyone who lives and breathes fine wine should be.

As a sneak preview, this quote at the article’s end pretty much sums up the attraction of Cotat wines, and we believe, much of why growers like Cotat are such a cornerstone for a portfolio like our own.

“They are a humble and private family, shy to all of the attention that has been washing up to their steps for many decades now, but with a great generosity underneath which is very much evident once one has gotten to know them a little bit … This was the traditional way of life in the wine regions of France in the past, where one took the time to slowly get to know the vignerons over the course of cellar visits though the years. For their part, the best producers made wines the way their fathers and grandfathers had done before them, feeling the sense of trusteeship of the great terroirs in which their vines were planted, and maximizing these to the best of their abilities, because ‘it was the right thing to do.’

 

“In a nutshell, this is what François Cotat has continued to do since he took over his share of the family vineyards in 1998, and what his father Paul and uncle Francis did for nearly fifty years before him. No doubt, Tonton Ferdinand Cotat did the same thing himself back in his own time. It is a way of life that one sees less and less in the modern age, but it continues to resonate its value profoundly … We are very fortunate to still be able to taste a bit of these honest and time-tested values with which the Cotat family lives, every time we open a bottle of their magical wine. Maybe with time, more of us will find our way back to the garden.”