For decades, Cotat's Sancerres have stood as the pinnacle of the appellation.

Taste bottles of François Cotat with a healthy amount of time in the cellar and their importance only becomes more clear. Beyond Sancerre, they are simply great examples of mineral-drenched and slow-to-unfold regal wines.

For many of you, this will come off as banal. François Cotat is one of the Loire's icons. It's as simple as that.

I'm happy to offer Cotat's 2016 Sancerre Les Culs de Beaujeu for $51.95 on bottles and $47.95 in 4-packs.

I've always had a soft spot for how Culs de Beaujeu combines a slightly lavish and oily texture with a taut core of talc-like minerality. It comes off as saturating, poised and vividly stony. Compared to Monts Damnes and Grande Cote, Culs de Beaujeu works on a more compact scale and has a more tightly coiled framework.

Culs de Beaujeu is a very steep vineyard in the area of Chavignol, which is considered Sancerre's best. Chavignol sits on Kimmeridgian marl, the same soil as parts of Chablis. This terroir contributes greatly to Cotat's singular, tactile Sancerres.

The 2016 is an absolutely gripping vintage of Culs de Beaujeu. It is a commanding wine delivering a saturating wash of minerals, cool-toned stone fruits and floral high-notes. For all its impact and intensity, the wine is animated by an incredible lift and polished stony core.

Cotat's wines are famous for aging brilliantly for decades. The minerality moves more and more to the forefront, endowing the wines with a talc-like and saline impression. The sheer concentration and brisk backbone of the 2016 Culs de Beaujeu promises that it will age really well.

To order, please email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.

Ian McFadden

Director, Fine & Rare Wine

Crush Wine & Spirits

2016 François Cotat

Sancerre Les Culs de Beaujeu

Special Bottle Price: $51.95

Compare at up to $55+

Special 4-Pack Price: $191.80 ($47.95/btl)