my tasting with JF Coche

Jean Francois Coche ( from the Domaine Coche-Dury ) was in town and we spend some time together talking about wine . He was much more relaxed than when I visit him in Meursault so we had time to discuss various topics in more detail and I had time to take notes . I thought some was very interesting .

  • His first year making wine was 1964 !
  • He mentioned that for his means , 10 ha is the maximum surface he ( and his son ) can manage . When his son joined him , JF quickly increased their holdings to 12 ha but his son objected . He believes 10 is the maximum because of the labor intensity in the vines . So Coche sold of or traded down .In the old days , he said , 5 ha was the maximum .
  • Regarding premature oxidation , he believes there are 3 or 4 culprits : less SO2 in the wine , the corks , less acidity in the grapes because of excessive yields , to much manipulation in the chais .
  • The effect of climate change : more hail storms who are devastating , more insects coming from the south and more mushrooms in the vineyard . All require additional work in the vineyard .
  • work in the vineyard is key ; never use profylactic treatment . Always be there to manage " events " . Study everything on a continuous basis . His 10 hours/a day in the vineyard is common . ( I think that is the difference with a lot of his peers : he just works much harder ) .
  • Coche still bottles ALL his wines by hand . As his production is between 150 and 300 barrels a year ( depending on the weather ) , he can be busy bottling 90.000 bottles by hand . He told me you can do it differently as long as you don’t put any pressure on the wine .

We tasted his recently bottled 2012 wine together . he had interesting comments with each of his wines

Aligoté : 20 months in cuve . Best with oysters , he claims , Meursault of Puligny would over power the oysters . Imo , best aligoté he ever made . Round and yummy .
Chardonnay : fresh with nice acidity , much different from the aligoté . Coche believes the best Chardonnay villages comes from Meursault as Puligny and Chassagne are too rich and deep.
Meursault Villages : he has 2 : Narvaux and Vireuils . Kermit Lynch usually choses Narvaux because it is easier and ready to drink sooner . The Vireuils has more acidity and will , in the best years , take some time to come around . But the Vireuils will go on for ever , Coche claims . So reviewers of the Meursault Villages should mention what they are tasting as the 2 wines are very different .
Chevalieres and Rougeots : the Chev. is finer and more floral : a wine for fish , Coche claims . The Rougeots is more powerful and more complex . ( the term Rougeots comes from a mushroom infection on the leaves , gives brown spots… ).
Puligny Enseignieres : from a lot just under the Leflaive and Pernot holding in Bienvenue . One of the few Villages wines that border grand Cru . Tight , mineral and floral .
M Caillerets : bordering Volnay . Facing south . Delicious already . Is always fully ready to enjoy .
M Genevrieres : more fat and concentrated . In the center of Meursault . A mixture of Charmes and Perrieres , according to Coche .
M Perrieres ;from dessus . Most complex wine of grand cru class . The active calcaire gives the wine an enormous minerality. The church of Meursault was build with stone from Perrieres .

These days , he keeps his Corton Charlemagne out of the trade till he believes it is more ready to drink . He claims most of his CC is drunk way too young . So we did not taste his 2012 . His 2011 is delicious , from, a " lesser " year .

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Fascinating note and a rare privilege. Thank you.

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Yes, very interesting. Thank you.

Howard

Great post. Thank you!

Great stuff here, thanks very much for posting

Very interesting. Can anyone explain this? Aren’t we always told that lower yields promote ripeness, which I have always assumed to be less acidity?

Coche still bottles ALL his wines by hand … He told me you can do it differently as long as you don’t put any pressure on the wine

Did he provide any explanation of what “put pressure on the wine” means? Is it literally using a pump?

met him once–a real bonhomme. Used to be able to find and afford his wines, too! Not any longer.

Interesting and thank you. For people without direct allocation from the wineries top Burgundy is not affordable any more. Coche, Rousseau, Roumier etc. were all affordable 10 years ago. It´s over for me now. Sadly.

Dr Alan , the prices of his wines for his 2012’s in Belgium ( Euro’s )

  • aligotĂ© : 16,90
  • Meursault : 67
  • Chevalieres and Rougeots : 72
  • Caillerets and Genevrieres : 95
  • Perrieres : 103

If you buy direct , it’s about half of that .

Alan R. , yes , he meant pumping . Regarding the acidity : he told me the use of excessive fertilisers create a ground saturated with fertilizer and the roots not going deep any longer . The quality of the grape deteriorates and delivers quantity but not quality . He still uses fertlizer but not much , I forgot the source and when he applies it .

“less acidity in the grapes” strikes me as something that out to be easy to measure and test, no?

Herwig,
Thanks for the great report. I was lucky to visit the cellar once. I believe I was with you. I love his wines.

Thanks Herwig.

Herwig,

thanks for taking the time to post

-paul

Yes. Very easy to test both PH and total acidity.

So were they not using pumps in Burgundy pre-1996?

Maybe yes and no.

When I was at a tasting in Comtes Lafon I remarked that one wine was more acidic than another (not as a negative, just pointing out a perception). None of my group disagreed.

Stephane Thibodaux politely said that both wines had identical PHs but that the seemingly more acidic one did not have the same fruit weight, structure and richness, hence my perception.

I’m sure all of the scientific tests and measures are important and tell the winemaker a lot. But I took from that that acidity in wine in tasting is about more than what the numbers will tell you.

Thank you Herwig.

Coche is still the pinnacle of WB’s for me…

Well done Herwig
thanks for posting the thoughts

pure gold

For Coche , acidity is a good thing , when you know his style , you understand . But there is more than acidity alone of course . The combination of chalk , minerality , acidity and spices ( coming from a hefty use of the lees ) make his wines wonderful .
I also find fascinating how easy it is to indentify his wines blind . The terroir speaks .
Then there are the vintages . He sometimes misses it , like in 2003 and 2006 . He sometimes excels greatly over his peers in average vintages like 2001 and 2005 . His 2010’s need a lot of cellar time while his 2009’s can be drunk now . fascinating stuf for wine geeks …

Alan , yes , his only point is that HE never pumps as he believes it is bad for his wine .

Only 10 ha. A pity. He should be cloned.