This wine posed quite an interesting challenge to my assumptions concerning wine "flaws..."
I have not had many wines from this producer, though he is one that is represented by my company. Both the Cotats (cousins Pascal and François) produce wines that are quite highly regarded among Sancerre aficionados.
Pascal generally harvests a week later than everyone else in Sancerre, achieving a higher degree of ripeness resulting in fuller bodied, more complex wines. He farms organically, hand harvests and presses, and ferments in old oak foudres. The wines are said to be incredibly long-lived, capable of lasting 30 years or more.
La Grande Cote represents one of Cotat's single vineyard bottlings, a concept that the Cotat family pioneered in this region. It is 100% Sauvignon Blanc, though I would have had a tough time determining this in a blind tasting.
I opened the bottle and the wine shot out as if I had just popped the cork on a bottle of unchilled Champagne. The notion that this was simply residual CO2 leftover from fermentation briefly crossed my mind...except for the fountain spraying all over the kitchen and my person indicated something more than this. I had heard that Pascal Cotat made singular wines, but this didn't seem quite right.
Had it undergone a secondary fermentation in bottle? Pascal neither fines nor filters, perhaps some remnants of yeast existed in the wine upon bottling? Certainly, by harvesting later and achieving fuller ripeness, he may have produced a wine with some residual sugar? This combined with some still living yeast may have married to form the perfect liqueur de tirage, et voila: sparkling wine.
But upon tasting it, I have to admit I was impressed. It provided quite a delicious tipple and paired perfectly with our lunch of salad and vegetarian cold cuts and Tur (Italian goat cheese) sandwiches. Full bodied, intense, and mousseux, with incredible acidity, a hint of sweetness and beautiful minerality. It could nearly have been a slightly deflated blanc des blancs from Cramant. Floral and honeyed, with just a hint of grapefruit on the palate giving it away as Sauvignon Blanc. I wish I had another bottle to hold for a few years, as I am curious to see what would happen.
A flawed wine? Perhaps. (I will go out on a limb here and assume that secondary fermentation in bottle is not what Pascal Cotat tried to achieve with this wine) A delicious wine? Most definitely.
Comments are warmly welcomed and encouraged, especially as I am quite perplexed about this wine...
