We have long been fans of Frederic Cossard’s Burgundies, in fact his were some of the first that made us fall in love with real wine. We spent a great couple of days with Fred and his wife Laure at their home in Saint Romain earlier in the year and are very pleased to be bringing their wines to London.
Fred Cossard is a larger than life character. He is a man with an infectious joie de vivre, a real passion for life and a love of wine that runs deep. Fred wasn’t born into a family of vignerons and so had to start from scratch, no mean feat in Burgundy. His Domaine de Chassorney was born in 1996, with a few hectares of vines rented in Saint Romain and Auxey Duresses and he now farms a total of 10 hectares of vines across several villages. He also acts as a negociant, giving him access to fruit from some of the greatest vineyards in Burgundy. These wines are bottled eponymously, as ‘Frederic Cossard’.
The Cossard’s have worked organically from the outset and now focus on homeopathic treatments and remedies tailored to the needs of each site. When fruit is bought, they give the growers a guide for looking after the vines their way and join them in the vineyards to ensure that work is carried out to their own lofty standards. In doing so they ensure that only the most pristine fruit makes it to their cellars tucked away amongst the limestone cliffs of Saint Romain.
Fermentations begin naturally and proceed without temperature control, often lasting months. Both whites and reds are left to rest on their lees until the following September, during which time they are neither racked, nor stirred. They are bottled unfiltered, with no additions. This might seem like a somewhat easygoing, hands-off approach to dealing with grapes from some of wine’s most coveted real estate, but that could not be further from the truth. Measures are taken at every step to ensure that the purity of fruit is retained. Such scrutiny is necessary to make great wine with no additions and that is exactly what they do, producing Burgundy of rare liveliness, purity and detail. They also happen to be amongst the most characterful and delicious wines we have tried.
We have just received small quantities of the following wines, if you’d like some, please send us an email
Frederic Cossard, Bourgogne Blanc ‘Bigotes’ 2014
Domaine de Chassorney, Saint Romain ‘Combe Bazin’ 2014
Frederic Cossard, Rully 1er Cru ‘En Vauvry’ 2013
Frederic Cossard, Bourgogne Rouge ‘Bedeau’ 2014
Domaine de Chassorney, Saint Romain ‘Sous Roches’ 2014
Domaine de Chassorney, Volnay 1er Cru 2013
Frederic Cossard, Nuits-Saints-Georges ‘Les Damodes’ 2013