Pascal Cotat

Pascal Cotat is the son of Francis Cotat, who together with his brother Paul ran the original Cotat family domaine in Chavignol from 1947 onward. Through the early 1990s, the brothers shared a single cellar, made the same wine, but bottled under two separate Francis and Paul labels so each could have his own name on the wines. In the early 1990s the brothers handed the domaine to their sons, Pascal and François, and the French government's eventual intervention required the production to be formally separated rather than continued in the brothers' shared-cellar arrangement. In 1998 the cousins formally split the family vineyards into two distinct operations: Pascal received approximately 2.3 hectares including parcels in Monts Damnés and La Grande Côte; François received the entire Culs de Beaujeu plus other parcels in the same crus.

• Pascal Cotat is son of Francis Cotat; cousin François Cotat is son of Francis's brother Paul Cotat
• Original combined Cotat family domaine ran 1947 to early 1990s with one cellar but two label identities
• 1998: cousins formally split the family vineyards after French government intervention required production separation
• Pascal received ~2.3 ha including parcels in Monts Damnés and La Grande Côte

Pascal's vineyards sit on the steep Chavignol slopes above the village, on the Kimmeridgian limestone-clay (terres blanches) soils that anchor the most age-worthy parcels in the Sancerre appellation. The Monts Damnés holding shares the cru with cousin François's parcels and other Chavignol producers; together the families work some of the steepest viable vineyard land in northern France, with grades approaching the limit of what hand-farming permits. The Grande Côte holding sits slightly south of Monts Damnés and gives a wine with a different aromatic register reflecting the cru's exposure and soils. Like François, Pascal works the vineyards at small scale and harvests by hand at the late-picking dates that the Cotat house style requires.

• Vineyards on steep Chavignol slopes; Kimmeridgian limestone-clay (terres blanches) soils
• Monts Damnés holding shares the cru with cousin François's parcels and other Chavignol producers
• Grande Côte holding sits slightly south of Monts Damnés with different aromatic register
• Hand-farming and late-harvest picking consistent with the broader Cotat house style

Pascal Cotat's wines follow the same traditional, late-harvest, off-dry, oxidative-leaning approach that the Cotat family has used since the 1940s. Picking is unusually late by Sancerre standards, often weeks after the broader regional harvest, producing Sauvignon Blanc that retains slight residual sugar in the classical Cotat off-dry register. Fermentations run on indigenous yeasts and aging takes place in older oak vessels that allow minor oxidative development. Pascal's wines, like François's, drink well young but reveal their full character at 15-25 years in bottle, with honeyed, mineral, and tertiary development that is essentially unique to the Cotat tradition within Sancerre. The two cousins' wines are stylistic siblings rather than distinct identities, both reflecting the original family approach.

• Late-harvest picking, often weeks after the broader Sancerre regional harvest
• Off-dry register with slight residual sugar consistent with the historic Cotat house style
• Indigenous-yeast fermentations and aging in older oak vessels with minor oxidative development
• Aging potential of 15-25 years; honeyed and tertiary development unique to the Cotat tradition within Sancerre

Pascal Cotat occupies the same conceptual position as cousin François: the small group of producers who define what traditional Sancerre once was, and could still be, against the appellation's broader shift toward early-picking, dry, stainless-steel-finished wines. The two cousins' parallel work allows direct stylistic comparison from a single family across two cellars, and the 1998 split offers a useful single-region case study in how an inherited domaine's identity survives division across family branches. Pascal's wines are slightly less internationally distributed than François's, making them somewhat harder to find but no less serious within the appellation.

• Cousin and stylistic sibling to François Cotat; both define traditional Sancerre against the appellation's broader shift
• Parallel work with cousin François allows direct stylistic comparison from a single family across two cellars
• 1998 split is a useful case study in single-domaine division across family branches
• Slightly less internationally distributed than François but no less serious within the appellation