Fraté
Fraté is the latest project of Frédéric Cossard, one of the most renowned names in the world of natural wines. In his vineyards, the soil is still plowed by horses, and he works entirely biodynamically. He does not use chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides. The grapes are hand-harvested by a large team of pickers.
Minimal intervention is applied in the cellar as well. Frédéric uses natural yeasts, adds no sulfites, does not clarify or filter the wines, and moves the wine during bottling solely by gravity. This results in elegant wines with a pronounced expression of the terroir.
Frédéric grew up in a farming family and began his career in dairy production. He applies the strict hygiene standards from that industry to his winemaking, producing extremely pure wines without added SO2. Although he started in the dairy industry , he was always fascinated by wine. His grandfather owned a small plot of grapes near Saint-Romain, where he made wine for the family. Frédéric spent much time there as a child and eventually decided to follow his dream of entering the wine world.
He started working as a courtier in Burgundy, mediating between négociants who bought grapes and farmers selling them. Over nearly ten years, he gained experience and built an extensive network in the wine industry. In 1996, he founded his own winery: Domaine de Chassorney. Located in Saint-Romain, it began with small parcels in Saint-Romain and Auxey-Duresses and eventually grew to almost 10 hectares.
In 2006, together with his wife Laure, he also started a négoce under his own name, producing wines in the same biodynamic manner but with purchased grapes from friendly biodynamic winegrowers. Both wineries became icons of Burgundy, known for their quality and purity while remaining unmistakably Burgundian in their purest form.
In 2022, he sold Domaine de Chassorney to his good friend Aurélien Verdet, with whom he had collaborated for several years and who shares the same philosophy. This sale allowed Frédéric to fully focus on his new project: Fraté.
Fraté is a collaboration between Frédéric and a friendly courtier. The name means 'brother' in Corsican and refers to their friendship. The wines are produced in Frédéric's cellar in Saint-Romain, using the same methods as his négoce wines. Instead of immediately offering a wide range of wines, the first 2022 vintage includes only four different wines: two from Jura and two from Burgundy.
From the Côtes du Jura, there is a Savagnin and a Poulsard. Additionally, there are a Meursault Blangny 1er Cru and a Corton Les Chaumes Grand Cru, two appellations Frédéric had not worked with for years. The results are stunning. Fraté's first vintage bursts with quality and expression. Wines of the highest level—and this is just the beginning…
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