2022 Francois Cotat Chavignol Rouge Vin de France

For decades the Cotat family did not sell this wine. They made a few hundred bottles for themselves and gave the rest to a handful of private customers. François Cotat still makes it the same way, and depending on the size of the crop the world gets somewhere between 300 and 900 bottles a year.

Cotat is one of the most sought-after names in the Loire. His Sancerre blancs from Monts Damnés and Culs de Beaujeu are collected the way white Burgundy is collected. He farms four hectares in Chavignol and Amigny. Three and a half of them are Sauvignon Blanc. The half hectare of Pinot Noir mostly goes into his rosé, and whatever is left becomes this.

The Pinot vines sit east of the village center on the flatter ground, planted in the chalky small stones locals call Caillottes. Fruit goes in whole cluster. The wine ages in tank with no oak. And the malolactic fermentation never happens, which is why the acidity in this bottle is so much sharper than anything you expect from Pinot Noir.

The label says Vin de France, not Sancerre, because Cotat has never bothered with the paperwork on a wine he barely makes.

Expect a very pale color, redcurrant and wild strawberry, violet and white pepper, almost no tannin, and acidity that makes your mouth water.

John Gilman calls it one of the longest-lived reds in Sancerre. Almost nobody gets to find out.