FREDERIC COSSARD

Saint-Romain, Burgundy

Frédéric Cossard is widely considered to be one of the most consequential figures in Burgundian natural wine. In a region known the world over for its totemic and highly collectable wines produced by secretive and multi-generational domaines, Cossard belongs to a small group of vignerons who, beginning in the 1990s, began to infiltrate the hallowed slopes of the Côte d’Or with the revolutionary style of winemaking known today as natural wine. 

From humble beginnings, Fred worked his way into the region’s complex web of négociants, winemakers, vineyard owners, and merchants through various jobs. These relationships eventually paid dividends, as many of them were the basis for starting and growing his eponymous négoce label, as well as his estate, Domaine de Chassorney, both of which began in 1996. Even for the négoce wines, his diligence for quality and immense knowledge of the region required a hands-on approach in all aspects of the winemaking and growing process, not limited to the work in the cellar. They work directly with growers and strive to maintain multi-year relationships to foster trust and consistency.

Such scrutiny is necessary to make great wine with no additions. Whites are pressed directly straight to barrel, where they rest on lees until bottling. Reds spend around a month on their skins as whole bunches in open top casks, before being pressed off to barrel and since 2018 to concrete tanks and quevris, also resting on their lees until bottling. It sounds simple, but the attention to detail in the cellar is unmatched; Fred produces Burgundy of rare liveliness, purity and detail.

In 2021, with no apparent heirs, Fred sold Domaine de Chassorney to local vigneron Aurélien Verdet, whose family has a multi-generational history of organic farming and winemaking in Burgundy. Fred continues to produce his négociant wines under the same label to this day.