Don’t look down. Among the most precipitous and highly desirable vineyards in Sancerre, if not the entire Loire Valley, “Les Monts Damnés” is an iconic “cru” that produces a rare, tightly allocated, investment-grade collectible in the hands of Pascal Cotat. Vintage after vintage, he delivers a lush and explosively mineral Sauvignon Blanc powerhouse that’s unafraid to look cult Dagueneau’s $175 bottling dead in the eye.
Says Robert Parker, “Cotat produces old-style Sancerre...rich, full-flavored...they are some of the finest Sauvignon Blancs I have ever put to my lips.” Whether you heed his words or ours, it doesn’t matter, just make sure you experience this magnificent bottling! Honestly, who wouldn’t want to try one of France’s most riveting and richly textured white wines, especially when most everyone else is selling today’s 2020 for $20 more? If necessary, a bottle can be thoroughly enjoyed now, but the grand finale won’t arrive until 2024 and it’ll last many years beyond that. Of all the allocations we’re allowed annually, Pascal Cotat’s “Damned Mountain” is always among the most exciting—apologies, but no more than six bottles per person.
Originating in the 1940s, the Cotat family domaine was passed from brothers Paul and Francis to their respective sons, François and Pascal, in the 1990s. Dedicated to the unique terroir of each site, the Cotats were among the first winemakers to vinify and produce single-vineyard bottlings in Sancerre, but the cousins eventually created two separate labels due to tedious government regulations. While François stayed put in Chavignol, his cousin charted the path for Domaine Pascal Cotat in Sancerre and built a separate winery.
Within the hamlet of Chavignol, Les Monts Damnés, or “damned mountains,” is the name of a series of steeply pitched vines the Cotat family has farmed for 75 years and counting. The cursed vineyard name is apropos given that the Cotats, by necessity, invented a system in which harvesters strap cushions to their rear ends to slide down the steep slopes. This wine is sourced from the highest parcels on the north-facing slope of this famous vineyard, which is distinguished by its subsoils of pure chalk—the same, gleaming white terres blanches found in Chablis. Left behind from ancient seabeds over 150 million years ago, this special soil offers a distinct, intense minerality that is entirely its own.
Cotat’s vines on Les Monts Damnés average about 35 years of age, and few winemakers can rival Pascal’s talent and dedication in the cellar—even fewer, if any, have the restraint to match his skilled late harvests. He’s known for hand-harvesting roughly a week later than others in the area, and as a result, his wines possess greater weight, ripeness, and complexity. In 2020, the whole-bunch grapes were gently sent through a pneumatic press and the juice fermented on indigenous yeasts in old demi-muids (large French oak barrels). It was then transferred into even older and larger barrels called tonneaux for under one year. An unfiltered and unfined bottling occurred in accordance with the lunar calendar.
Ripe, fleshy, and full-bodied, Pascal Cotat's 2020 “Les Monts Damnés” is a Sancerre for the history books. This is the antithesis of lean, herbaceous, nervy Sauvignon Blanc. The opulence here is staggering: explosive tropical aromas grip the senses and refuse to let go, and the palate gushes with layers of ripe citrus and orchard fruits before a cleansing one-two punch of crushed minerals and acid. This is going to be extremely hard to age solely because of the sheer generosity it provides right now. But it will age, for many years, and I expect it to soar into a new dimension after another 1-2 years in bottle.
