Tag Archives: Les Perrières

Keeping Up With The Joneses of Burgundy — Coche Edition

Photo by Torsade de Pointes. Released on Wikimedia Commons under CC-Zero

Vineyards in Meursault, home to many of the Coche family’s prime holdings.

Welcome to the latest installment of my on-going series about the winemaking families of Burgundy!

Be sure sure to check out previous editions about the Boillot, Morey and Gros families.

If you have any suggestions for future editions (or know anything I missed!), feel free to leave a comment below.

Along with some internet sleuthing, my tools on this journey will be:

Remington Norman and Charles Taylor’s The Great Domaines of Burgundy
Clive Coates’ The Wines of Burgundy
Matt Kramer’s Making Sense of Burgundy
Bill Nanson’s The Finest Wines of Burgundy
Benjamin Lewin’s Burgundy (Guides to Wines and Top Vineyards)

The Coche Family

Photo by e_calamar. Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-2.0

Through Léon’s grand daughter, some of the Coche family holdings are now in the hands of Domaine Roulot.

In the 1920s, Léon Coche started his domain after acquiring six parcels in Meursault, Auxey-Duresses and Monthélie. While he did some estate bottling, most of his grapes were sold to négociants. On his passing, the estate was inherited by his 3 children–Julien (who already had founded his own estate in 1940), Georges and Marthe. Georges took over his share of the family estate in 1964 and expanded his holdings with parcels in the Volnay Premier Crus of Clos des Chênes and Les Taillepieds.

Georges’ son, Jean-François Coche, assumed the domain in 1972 and appended the maiden name of his wife, Odile Dury, in 1975. In his nearly 40 years at the helm, Jean-François elevated Domaine Coche-Dury to “cult wine” level. Along with Comtes Lafon, Jancis Robinson describes the estate as one of “Masters of Meursault”. In 2010, Jean-François’ son Raphael took over the family domain as the fourth generation of Coche.

The inheritance of Léon’s daughter, Marthe, eventually passed to her daughter Geneviève who married Guy Roulot of Domaine Roulot. That estate is now ran by their son, Jean-Marc Roulot.

Julien’s Branch

In 1940, Julien Coche founded Domaine Julien Coche-Debord with just a single hectare in Meursault. The estate was expanded with some of his inheritance from his father Léon and was further enlarged when his son, Alain, took over added several notable Meursault premier crus like Les Charmes and La Goutte d’Or. Alain also changed the name to Domaine Coche-Bizouard et Fils.

Alain’s son Fabien joined the family estate in 1991 and started a négociant firm (Maison Coche-Bouillot) in 2001. Up through at least the 2013 vintage, wines have been produced under the label Domaine Alain Coche-Bizouard but now the estate is known as Domaine Fabien Coche à Meursault.

Current Coche Estates

Domaine Fabien Coche à Meursault/Maison Coche-Bouillot (Meursault) The estate formerly known as Domaine Coche-Bizouard et Fil and the négociant firm of Alain’s son Fabien. In addition to their holdings in Meursault, the estate also owns parcels in Auxey-Duresses, Monthélie and Pommard. The entire estate produces around 50,000 bottles.

Prime holdings: Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru, Meursault Premier Cru Les Charmes (0.28 ha), Pommard Premier Cru La Platière (0.20 ha)

Domaine Coche-Dury (Meursault) Ran today by Raphael Coche, son of the legendary winemaker Jean-François Coche. The estate bottles more than 70% of its holding.  Négociants like Louis Latour and Louis Jadot often purchase the rest. The winery farms the estate’s holdings sustainably with an annual production of around 50,000 bottles.

Prime holdings: Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (0.34 ha), Meursault Premier Cru Les Perriéres (0.23 ha and 0.37 ha in Les Perriéres-Dessus), Meursault Premier Cru Les Genevriéres (0.20 ha)

Additional Keeping up with the Joneses in Burgundy

The Boillot Familly
The Morey Family
The Gros Family
The Leflaive Family

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Getting Geeky with Henri Gouges La Perrière White Pinot

Going to need more than 60 Seconds to geek out about the 2014 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits-St.-Georges 1er Cru La Perrière–a white wine made from a unique mutation of Pinot noir.

The Background

Remington Norman and Charles Taylor notes in The Great Domaines of Burgundy that Henri Gouges started his domain in the early 1920s with the purchase of around 22 acres in Nuits-St.-Georges. During the economic slump of the 1920s and 1930s, Gouges continued to take advantage of depressed vineyard prices. He was able to greatly expand the domaine choice parcels from several esteemed premier crus.

In the early 1930s, when concerns about rampant fraud and mislabeling was taking a toll on Burgundy prices, Gouges joined the Marquis d’Angerville and Armand Rousseau to rebel against the négociant houses by estate bottling all his domain wines.

Clive Coates described Henri Gouges, in The Wines of Burgundy, as the “Doyen of Nuits-St.-Georges” whose lasting influence in the commune has been far reaching. He was elected mayor several times.  In the 1930s when the Institut National d’Appellation d’Origine (INAO) was establishing the classification of Burgundy’s vineyard, Gouges represented the interests of Nuits-St.-Georges on the regulatory committee.

It is believed that because Gouges was a major owner of the famed Les St-Georges vineyard, and would have benefited greatly if that vineyard was classified as a Grand Cru, he wanted to avoid any potential conflicts of interest by advocating against any Nuits-St.-Georges vineyard being singled out as a Grand Cru. Instead, the committee awarded the commune 41 premier crus.  After Beaune’s 42 premier crus, this was the highest concentration of premier crus in the Côte d’Or .

Domaine Style
Photo by Leroy remy. Released on Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-SA-3.0

The village of Nuits-Saint-Georges in winter.

The domaine has long been a proponent of “traditional” and “natural viticulture” techniques–eschewing the use of chemicals when possible. In the vineyard, they prefer massale selection of vine cuttings instead of clonal propagation. Gouges’ grandson, Pierre, pioneered the use of ryegrass cover crop in the commune to curb erosion and encourage competition for the vine roots to find resources. Since 2008, all the domain’s vineyards have been farmed organically.

The Grape

The story goes that Henri Gouges was inspecting his Pinot noir vines in Nuits-St.-Georges 1er Cru La Perrière in late summer in the 1940s when he came across a vine that had all white clusters post-veraison. Intrigued, he cut off a branch of the vine and propagated to see if the new “Pinot noir” vine would also produce white clusters. It did so Gouges and his descendants continued to propagate the variety now known as “Pinot Gouges” in not only La Perrière but also in the premier cru vineyard (and Gouges monopole) of Clos de Porrets-Saint-Georges.

Is it a “White” Pinot noir or Pinot blanc?
Photo collage created by self as User:agne27 from photos released under creative commons licenses. Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-SA-3.0

Pinot noir, Pinot gris and Pinot blanc are genetically the same grape.

An interesting question and one that I couldn’t find a definitive answer for.

Throughout history, Pinot vines have been observed having clusters with different colored berries on them. Sometimes even different colors on the same berry!

The Pinot grape is notorious for its genetic instability with Jancis Robinson’s Wine Grapes noting that there are more than a 1000 registered clones. That’s just the number of clones we know of. However, ampelographers believe that the mutation rate for Pinot is actually on par with other varieties and instead attribute the vast number of known mutations and genetic variations to the grape’s longevity and 2000+ year history.

Even with the many mutations, genetically all the various Pinot varieties (noir, blanc, gris, Meunier, Teinturier, etc) are the same–which to some degree makes the argument of what “Pinot Gouges” is moot.

But the concept of “White Pinot noir” does exist with producers pressing the red Pinot noir grapes quickly to produce a white wine. Used in Champagne for centuries, this method is a popular way to make white sparkling wines from red Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. When made as still wine, these White Pinot noirs often have a fuller-bodied, weighty fruit with just a tinge of color—traits that bore out in my tasting of the Gouges La Perrière.

Pinot blanc wines tend to be more moderate weight with medium to medium-minus acidity with brilliant clarity and no color–especially when young. While it can often be confused for Chardonnay (like the Gouges wine in my notes below), my experiences with true varietal Pinot blanc vines are just too different from tasting this Pinot Gouges which leads me to considering this a “White Pinot”.

The Vineyard

Photo derived from map provided for public use by Bourgone Wines.org

The Les Perrières vineyard located south of the village of Nuits-Saint-Georges.

La Perrière is a climat within the Premier Cru vineyard of Les Perrières located south of the village of Nuits-St.-Georges on the slope above the 1er Cru of Les Poirets (Les Porrets). The vineyard used to be a quarry with the name “Perrière” referencing the French term for quarry-workers. The soil is accordingly stony and pebbly.

Several producers have bottlings from this vineyard (all of them red) including Meo-Camuzet (Wine Searcher Ave $148), Louis Jadot (Wine Searcher Ave $134) and Domaine Robert Chevillon (Wine Searcher Ave $95)

The Wine

Medium-plus intensity nose. In a blind tasting, I would be thinking Chardonnay with the tree fruits of apples and pears but there is a lot of spice here–not oak spice but rather exotic spices. I can’t quite pinpoint them but it smells like you walked into an Indian restaurant. There is also a white floral element that has me thinking of apple blossoms.

Photo by Joe mon bkk. Released on Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-SA-4.0

Lots of exotic spices and layers in this White Burgundy.

On the palate, there is a lot of weight and texture–things that would indicate new oak except for the complete absence of oak flavors. I also get some roasted hazelnuts which would make me think of an older Burg (like a 5 to 7 year old Meursault) rather than something that is only a little over 3 years old. Medium-plus acidity balances the weight of the fruit well but could be a tad higher. Moderate length finishes ends on the pear and spice notes.

The Verdict

Priced in line with upper-tier Premier Cru white Burgundies, the wine holds it own at the $90-110 range. It’s hard not to compare it to a well-made Meursault Premier Cru like Les Charmes and Les Perrières though I think what ultimately separates this Nuits-St.-Georges White Pinot from those crème de la crème Chardonnays is precision and longevity.

While there are lots of layers in this wine, they don’t have the crystal clarity and precision of flavors that truly highlight great white Burgs. You could say that develops with bottle age but this relatively young wine already tastes far older than what you would expect with its age. While it is giving considerable pleasure now, I can’t see it getting anywhere near the levels of a great Meursault wine from the same vintage 3 years down the road, much less 5 or 15.

Still, this is fascinating and exceedingly character driven wine that is worth seeking out just to experience. From a commune that is 97% red wine (with the entire Côte de Nuits being 95% red), it is truly a unicorn with only around 2000-2500 bottles produced each year.

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Keeping up with the Joneses in Burgundy — Morey Edition

Photo by PRA. Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-SA-3.0As with our first edition featuring the Boillot family, we’re going to explore the many Morey estates in Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet, trying to dissect the tangled weave of similar names to see how the estates may (or may not) be related.

Along with some Google-Foo, my scalpels on this journey will be:

Remington Norman and Charles Taylor’s The Great Domaines of Burgundy
Clive Coates’ The Wines of Burgundy
Matt Kramer’s Making Sense of Burgundy
Bill Nanson’s The Finest Wines of Burgundy

The Morey Family

The Morey family’s history in Burgundy dates back to at least the 16th century with evidence of winemaking in Meursault since 1793. The history in Chassagne-Montrachet dates back to Claude Morey’s arrival from the village of Paris l’Hôpital in 1643.

In 1950,  Albert Morey (father of Jean-Marc and Bernard) was one of the first estates in Chassagne-Montrachet to domaine bottle.

Robert Parker has noted in Burgundy: A Comprehensive Guide to the Producers, Appellations, and Wines, that the Morey family name is well regarded in Burgundy for producing “…very good, sometimes excellent white wines.”

In studying the various Morey domaines, the family’s prominence in the Grand Cru vineyard of Bâtard-Montrachet is apparent with several members producing examples. Most of the Morey Bâtards come from tiny holdings averaging only around 0.11 hectare (≈ 0.27 acres).  Domaine Pierre Morey owns the largest amount with nearly half a hectare.  Meanwhile, Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey contracts with multiple growers in the Grand Cru to expand his production.

The Current Morey Estates

Domaine Pierre Morey (Meursault)

Founded in 1971 by Pierre Morey, son of Auguste Morey, who farmed several parcels for Domaine Comte Lafon under métayage agreement. For two decades, Pierre also served as vineyard and winery manager for Domaine Leflaive.  During this time he was inspired to convert his estate to organic viticulture in 1992 and biodynamic in 1997.
Prime holdings: Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru (0.48 ha); Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières (0.52 ha); Pommard 1er Cru Les Grand Epenots (0.43 ha)

Domaine Emile Jobard-Morey (Meursault)

Tiny 4.5 ha domaine ran by Rémy Ehret, son-in-law of the original owners, and Valentin Jobard. The vineyards are farmed using sustainable viticulture. Unfortunately not much information is available about this estate to decipher the connection to the other Moreys or to estates like Domaine Antoine Jobard.
Prime holdings: Meursault 1er Cru Charmes (parcel just below Les Perrières); Meursault 1er Cru Le Porusot

Domaine Jean-Marc Morey (Chassagne-Montrachet)

Founded in 1981 by Jean-Marc after the retirement of his father, Albert Morey, with his father’s holdings divided between Jean-Marc and his brother Bernard (Thomas & Vincent’s father). For almost two decades his daughter, Caroline, has helped him manage the property with his son, Sylvain, running Bastide du Claux in the Luberon.
Prime holdings: St. Aubin 1er Cru Les Charmois (0.40 ha); Beaune 1er Cru Grèves rouge & blanc (0.65 ha); Chassagne-Montrachet Les Champs Gains rouge & blanc (0.77 ha)

Domaine Marc Morey et Fils (Chassagne-Montrachet)

Founded in 1919 by Marc’s father Fernand Morey with Marc taking over the family estate in 1944. In 1978, the estate was divided between his two children. His son, Michael, took his share to establish Domaine Morey-Coffinet.  His daughter, Marie-Joseph, and her husband Bernard Mollard used their holdings to continue Domaine Marc Morey. Today, their daughter Sabine runs the estate. All the vineyards are farmed sustainably.
Prime holdings: Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru (0.14 ha); Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets (0.20); quasi-monopole of Chassagne-Montrachet 1er En Virondot (2.02 ha) with the domaine buying the remaining 0.1 ha from other growers

Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey (Chassagne-Montrachet)

Founded in 2001 as a négociant firm by Pierre-Yves Colin (son of Marc Colin in St. Aubin) and Caroline Morey, daughter of Jean-Marc Morey.  The first solo vintage of estate fruit was in 2006. Prior to returning to his father’s estate in 1995, Pierre-Yves spent time working in California at estates like Chalk Hill. Additionally he worked harvests in the Loire and Rhone. Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey farm their vineyards sustainably with some hectares farmed completely organic.
Prime holdings: Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes (0.40 ha); Purchase contracts for Grand Crus Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Corton-Charlemagne and Bâtard-Montrachet

Caroline Morey’s Chassagne-Montrachet Le Chêne

Domaine Caroline Morey (Chassagne-Montrachet)

Founded in 2014 by Caroline Morey, daughter of Jean-Marc Morey and wife of Pierre-Yves Colin. The domaine owns 7 ha inherited from Caroline’s father in Chassagne-Montrachet and Santenay.
Prime holdings: Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets (0.75 ha); Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champ Gains

Domaine Thomas Morey (Chassagne-Montrachet)

Founded in 2006 when the estate of Bernard Morey (Jean-Marc’s brother) was divided between his sons, Thomas and Vincent. The estate focus on red Pinot noir is unique among the Moreys. All the vineyards are farmed sustainably.
Prime holdings: Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru (0.10 ha); Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Vide-Bourse (0.20 ha located just below Bâtard-Montrachet); Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Dent de Chien (0.07 ha located just about Le Montrachet)

Domaine Vincent et Sophie Morey (Chassagne-Montrachet)

Founded in 2006 when Vincent inherited his share of his father’s estate. His wife Sophie is from the notable Belland family in Santenay . Their marriage brought around 12 ha to the domaine.  All vineyards are sustainably farmed.
Prime holdings: Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru (0.10 ha); Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Embrazées (3.80 ha); Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets (0.35 ha)

Domaine Morey-Coffinet (Chassagne-Montrachet)

Founded in 1978 when Michael Morey, son of Marc, combined his inheritance with that of his wife, Fabienne (daughter of Fernand Coffinet and Cécile Pillot). The other part of Domaine Coffinet went to Fabienne’s sister, Laure, who founded Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay. The estate has been practicing organic cultivation (receiving Ecocert in 2015) and is converting over to biodynamic.
Prime holdings: Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru (0.13 ha); Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru En Remilly (0.35 ha located next to Chevalier-Montrachet); Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Blanchots-Dessus (0.06 ha the southern extension of Le Montrachet)

Additional Keeping up with the Joneses in Burgundy

The Boillot Familly
The Gros Family
The Coche Family
The Leflaive Family

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60 Second Wine Review — Capitain-Gagnerot Corton-Renardes

Some quick thoughts on the 2010 Maison Capitain-Gagnerot Corton-Renardes Grand Cru.

The Geekery

According to Clive Coates’ The Wines of Burgundy, the Capitains’ history in the region dates back to the 17th century. Domaine Gagnerot was established in 1802 with the Capitain family joining it in marriage in 1864.

Today Capitain-Gagnerot is managed by the current generation of Patrice and Michel Capitain who tend to almost 40 acres that includes not only around 0.8 acres in Corton-Renardes but also plantings in the Grand Crus of Corton-Charlemagne, Échezeaux, Clos Vougeot and the greater Corton Grand Cru. They also own the premier cru monopole of La Micaude in Ladoix-Serrigny.

Les Renardes is one of 25 climats on the hill of Corton and is considered one of the more highly regarded climats of the Grand Cru along with Clos du Roi, Les Bressandes, Les Perrières, Les Pougets and Les Grèves.

The Wine

The climat of Les Renardes on the Aloxe-Corton side of the Grand Cru Corton.
Photo courtesy of Atlas Vins from Jacques Michot – Sepia Art & Cartographie.

Medium intensity nose. Some red fruits but mostly earthy forest floor and savory “chicken herbs”–rosemary, thyme, marjoram and sage. It’s not quite define which herbs but smelling this wine makes me think I’m by the rotisserie at Costco.

On the palate, the wine has medium plus acidity and firm medium tannins. The acidity amplifies the red fruit flavors and gives them more precision as cherries and pomegranate. The savoriness from the nose carries through but it is still not very defined.

The Verdict

This is a hefty and very dense Grand Cru Pinot noir that is probably in its awkward adolescence. You can tell that there is a lot of layers of complexity waiting to unfurl but it is not there yet. The hints are there, especially with the intriguing savoriness.

At around $150 for a Grand Cru from a good quality vintage, I can see this eventually living up to its price and is worth squirreling away a couple bottles in the cellar for another 5 to 10 years.

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Keeping up with the Joneses in Burgundy — Boillot edition

Photo by Geoffrey Fairchild, released on Wikimedia Commons via Flickr under pd-author
An oft repeated truism in the world of Burgundy is that you should buy based on the producer rather than the vineyard or classification. But this solid piece of advice becomes difficult to follow when you run into multiple bottles made by producers with similar names.

In many cases, these estates are related by blood or marriage which creates a tangled web for a Burgundy lover to untangle.

As part of my own studies, I’m going to try to untangle some of these webs–one common surname at a time. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions for additions or corrections in the comments.

My tools on this journey, besides the internet, will be:

Remington Norman and Charles Taylor’s The Great Domaines of Burgundy
Clive Coates’ The Wines of Burgundy
Matt Kramer’s Making Sense of Burgundy
Bill Nanson’s The Finest Wines of Burgundy

We will start off with the Boillot family.

The Boillot family’s history of winemaking in Burgundy dates back to 1855 with the fifth generation of Boillots now running their eponymous estates. At several of these estates (like Domaine Jean-Marc Boillot and Domaine Henri Boillot) the sixth generation is working in the family business and preparing to take over.

In 1955, a conflict between Lucien Boillot and his father Henri lead to Lucien leaving his father’s estate, Domaine Henri Boillot, and starting his own winery. Henri’s other son, Jean, eventually took over Domaine Henri Boillot and renamed it Domaine Jean Boillot. Jean also married Colette Sauzet, daughter of the fame Puligny-Montrachet producer Etienne Sauzet.


Lucien had two sons, Louis and Pierre, with Louis starting his own estate in 2002 and Pierre inheriting control of Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils.

Jean also had two sons, Jean-Marc and Henri, as well as a daughter, Jeanine, who married Gérard Boudot and now manages Domaine Sauzet. Jean-Marc started his own eponymous winery in 1989 while Henri started a négociant firm (Maison Henri Boillot) before eventually assuming what was left of Domaine Jean Boillot. To avoid confusion with his brother’s estate, he merged the holdings into his own domaine and changed the name back to Domaine Henri Boillot.

The Current Boillot Estates

Domaine Louis Boillot (Chambolle-Musigny)

Founded in 2002 when the estate of Lucien Boillot et Fils was split between Louis and his brother, Pierre. Louis is married to Ghislaine Barthod who runs her namesake estate in Chambolle-Musigny.
Prime holdings: Gevrey-Chambertain 1er Cru Champonnet (0.19 ha) and Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets (0.18 ha)

Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils (Gevrey Chambertain)

Currently ran by Pierre.
Prime holdings: Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Perrières (0.23 ha) and Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets (0.18 ha)

Domaine Jean-Marc Boillot (Pommard)

Founded in 1989. Prior to starting his own estate, Jean-Marc worked as a winemaker for Olivier Leflaive.
Prime holdings: Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champ Ganet (0.13 ha) and Les Combettes (0.47 ha)

Domaine Henri Boillot (Volnay)

Founded as a négociant firm in 1984. In 2005, Henri bought out his siblings shares of his father’s estate (Domaine Jean Boillot). He then merged the holdings into his own domaine.
Prime holdings: Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru (0.34 ha), Volnay 1er Cru Les Fermiets (2.4 ha) and monopole of Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Mouchère (3.99 ha) within Les Perrières

Additional Keeping up with the Joneses in Burgundy

The Morey Family
The Gros Family
The Coche Family
The Leflaive Family

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