WTN: Trade tasting part 2. Superb Jurançon and Sancerre and fine Marmandais.

Clos Uroulat – Charles Hours - Jurançon.

This is one of my favourite estates. As far as I know the two wines here represent its whole range. They were presented by the vivacious Marie Hours, after whom her father named the dry cuvée. The estate consists of 16 hectares planted 50% with Petit manseng, 45% with Gros manseng and 5% with Courbu.

Jurançon sec Cuvée Marie blanc 2005 (EUR 11.49) is generous, aromatic and mineral with complex bright fruit and stuffing. It is drinking much better than when I tasted it in the Spring in the presence of Charles but is still not so superbly expressive as 2004. I think that it will get there; 16/20+ now. 2004 gets my 17/20. Remarkable QPR.

Jurançon moelleux Clos Uroulat 2005 (EUR 16,28) is already superb showing a complex nose of citrus fruit and pineapple. The palate is deeply rich, complex and generous with offsetting bracing acidity. I know now what to serve this Christmas Eve with the foie gras (a good one from la Maison Valette was served here) so as to avoid the Sauternes trap of swamping the following red; 17.5/20.



Domaine Pascal Cotat – Sancerre.

The wines were presented by Pascal and his father Francis, a delightfully straightforward and unsophisticated pair. I think that their range consists only of the two whites below and a rosé not shown here. There is also a Domaine François Cotat (Pascal’s cousin) which was the product of an estate split in the mid-90s. For once confusion between the two does not matter much; philosophy, style and quality are similar, the terroirs adjoin and even the labels are almost identical. The whites from both estates tend to be reserved in their youth but develop superbly after a few years and are reputed to hold and even continue improving over a couple of decades and I recall a Cotat rosé 1996 opened about three years ago as by far the finest pink which I have ever drunk with great champagne-like flavours and finesse. The Pascal estate consists of 2.4 hectares of Sauvignon blanc and 0.1 hectare of Pinot Noir.

Sancerre blanc Les Monts Damnées 2006 (EUR 24,83) is round and long with deep substance, fine focus and minerality with marked but non astringent acidity; one feels that it is holding a lot back and that it needs time to unfold; 15.5/20 now but wait for ++ potential to develop.

Sancerre blanc La Grande Côte 2006 (EUR 24,83) struck me at first as more open than the previous but the Cotats disagreed so I reverted to Les Mont Damnés and was forced to concur; my palate had been numbed by the preceding powerful red. Coming back to La Grande Côte, I found a similar depth and backwardness with perhaps a more fragrant and honeyed style; 15.5/20 now but wait for ++ potential to develop. A 1996 recently got my 17.5/20.

(The Cotats have been victims of a pettifogging local approach to the AOC regulations. François was forced to sell one of his 1998s as Vin de Table because of excessive RS and Pascal has been under pressure to remove mention of his famous village, Chavignol - known for its delicious goat cheese, from the label.)



Domaine Elian Da Ros – Côtes du Marmandais(« CM »).

Da Ros is an outstanding grower producing powerful and serious wines from this otherwise little esteemed appellation located about 100km from Bordeaux upstream along the Garonne. As far as I know there are no other individual growers there of remotely similar stature but there is a quite worthy cooperative at Cocumont. I got to know these wines at the late and much regretted La Vigneronne in London. The whole range represents very good QPR.

CM Chante Coucou rosé 2005 (EUR 7,34) showed attractive freshness allied to quite some body; 15/20.

CM Vignoble d’Elian rouge 2005 (EUR 10,34) , consisting of 50% Cabernet, 30% Merlot and 20% Syrah, is an attractive wine with good fresh fruit and a touch of leather; 15/20.

CM Chante Coucou rouge 2005 (EUR 15,54), 60% Merlot, 20% Malbec and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, is much more tannic and backward; at first there were some reductive aromas which diminished in the glass but the fruit aromas were reticent and on the palate there is considerable substance and depth as well as structure; 15.5/20 now with + potential. (I recall a Pomerol tasting at La Vigneronne where Chante Coucou was a ringer and got placed third ahead of some distinguished names.)

CM Clos Bacquey rouge 2003 (EUR 18,89), one-third each of Merlot, Cabernet franc and Abouriou, is riper than the very young Chante Coucou and shows more complexity and richness and similar depth with attractive leather hints. I don’t think that the extra ripeness and complexity comes entirely from two years extra ageing and the torrid 2003 summer as I have noticed a similar difference in other vintages; 16/20 now with +potential.

i'm certainly glad to hear that the authorities in sancerre are at least minimally vigilent about RS. i had one from foassier a couple of years ago that i thought should have been demoted for that reason but wasn't. the whole purpose of the aoc system is that you should be able to be relatively certain that the wine is what you expect it to be; and dry is what i and i imagine everyone else expects from sancerre.

Typicity within AOC boundaries is a difficult issue. Quite often, the ancestral typicity resulted from high yields and insufficient ripeness; the tart acidic and cat's pee Sancerre which was ubiquitous in Paris brasseries two to three decades ago is a case in point. Very often the local AOC tasting committees are dominated by vignerons of that ilk who are jealous of better performers showing up their own lax practices. It is difficult for them to disqualify a wine on the grounds of the greater depth and intensity which good Sancerre growers now obtain but RS is the perfect excuse. Thévenet in the Maconnais and, indeed, Charles Hours for his 2003 are others who have suffered from this sort of discrimination.

Having said that, I share your irritation on opening a bottle which I expect to be dry and where I find with some RS. Alsace and Loire are a bad offenders here. The obvious solution, which so many vignerons seem to find difficult, is to indicate "sec", "demi-sec", "moelleux" or "liquoreux" on the label as Philippe Foreau does or to use the more precise but less transparent "indice" system of Zind-Humbrecht.

Clos Uroulat – Charles Hours - Jurançon.

This is one of my favourite estates. As far as I know the two wines here represent its whole range..

Thanks for the notes, sounds like fun. I thought Hours had two dry cuvees, one basic one special. But I could be wrong.

Pascal Cotat also has some Culs de Beaujeu, and they sometimes distinguish cuvees within vineyards.

You are right about the aging--recent '89s are not remotely old.

As for the lack of difference between the cousins, don't tell them that!