Domaine Coche-Dury

The Coche family's domaine began in 1923, when Léon Coche began to purchase parcels in Meursault, Auxey-Duresses and Monthélie. Léon's vines were passed to his children Georges, Julien and Marthe. Julien's share is known today as Domaine Fabien Coche (ex-Coche Bizouard), and Marthe's share passed to her daughter Geneviève, who married Guy Roulot. Georges Coche took over management of his portion in 1964 and added the domaine's holdings in Meursault-Perrières Premier Cru, two parcels, both in Perrières-Dessus. Georges entered many competitions with the domaine's wines, and his gold medals had the wines listed in many top restaurants before scores out of 100 became the norm. He passed the domaine to his son Jean-François in 1973. In 1975 Jean-François Coche married Odile Dury and renamed the domaine Coche-Dury. Jean-François added parcels in Volnay Taillepieds and Clos des Chênes, and in 1985 he signed a metayage agreement for 0.33 hectares in Corton-Charlemagne, in the lieu-dit Le Charlemagne; the first vintage of that wine was 1986. The estate first came to prominence under Jean-François in the 1980s. He retired in 2010, when his son Raphaël took over fully.

• 1923: Léon Coche began to purchase parcels in Meursault, Auxey-Duresses and Monthélie; his vines later passed to his children Georges, Julien and Marthe.
• 1964: Georges Coche took over management of his portion; he added two Meursault-Perrières parcels in Perrières-Dessus.
• 1973: Georges passed the domaine to his son Jean-François; 1975: Jean-François Coche married Odile Dury and renamed the domaine.
• 1985: metayage agreement for 0.33 hectares in Corton-Charlemagne (lieu-dit Le Charlemagne), first vintage 1986; 2010: Jean-François retired.

As of April 2022, Raphaël Coche was the domaine's winemaker. He began to work alongside his father Jean-François in 1997, was full-time at the domaine a few years later, and took over fully upon his father's retirement in 2010. He attributes great influence to his grandfather Georges Coche (d. 2009) and emphasises continuity with his father: ‘My father and I see eye-to-eye on winemaking’. One of his first initiatives was the 2012 expansion of the domaine's Corton-Charlemagne holding.

• Raphaël Coche: winemaker as of April 2022; at the domaine from 1997, in full charge since 2010.
• Jean-François Coche: led the domaine from 1973 until his retirement in 2010.
• Georges Coche (d. 2009): managed his share from 1964 and passed it to Jean-François in 1973.

The domaine has grown over time to 10.46 hectares under vine (as of April 2022). Its holdings at that date were Bourgogne Blanc 1.5 ha, Meursault 3.75 ha, Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseignères 0.8 ha, Meursault Les Rougeots 0.65 ha, Meursault Les Chevalières 0.13 ha, Meursault Caillerets 0.18 ha, Meursault Genevrières Premier Cru 0.2 ha, Meursault Perrières Premier Cru 0.6 ha, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 0.88 ha, Bourgogne Rouge 0.35 ha, Auxey-Duresses Rouge 0.5 ha, Meursault Rouge 0.23 ha, Monthélie 0.3 ha and Volnay Premier Cru 0.39 ha. The domaine also owns village Meursault parcels in Narvaux, Luchets and Vireuils. In 2012 Raphaël Coche purchased the Corton-Charlemagne parcel his father had rented since 1985, along with another one downslope from it, and expanded the mid-slope parcel with an additional metayage agreement, taking the holding from 0.33 ha to 0.88 ha. To finance the deal he sold the domaine's 0.34 ha in Pommard Vaumuriens. The vineyards avoid the use of clones and employ old vines for massal selection, and the soil is worked manually. Yields are low, mainly because the vines are old rather than because of green harvesting, and picking is generally early to retain freshness.

• 10.46 ha under vine as of April 2022; village Meursault (3.75 ha) and Bourgogne Blanc (1.5 ha) are the largest holdings.
• Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 0.88 ha after the 2012 purchase and metayage expansion (from 0.33 ha), financed by selling 0.34 ha in Pommard Vaumuriens.
• Meursault Premier Crus Perrières (0.6 ha) and Genevrières (0.2 ha); Meursault Caillerets 0.18 ha; village lieux-dits Les Rougeots, Les Chevalières, Narvaux, Luchets and Vireuils.
• No clones; old vines used for massal selection; soil worked manually; low yields from old vines; early picking for freshness.

The domaine's key wines are Corton-Charlemagne, Meursault Perrières Premier Cru, Meursault Genevrières and Meursault. By volume the largest production is village-level Meursault, which may be labelled simply as Meursault or with the name of the lieu-dit. The village Meursault is based on two parcels in Narvaux, up the slope from Premier Cru Genevrières. In the vintage current in April 2022 the domaine bottled a Rougeots, a Chevalières and a Caillerets, and the Narvaux, Luchets and Vireuils parcels have been labelled separately in some vintages and blended into the village Meursault in others. The range also includes Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseignères, a Bourgogne Blanc and Rouge, a village-level red from Auxey-Duresses, a Monthélie Rouge, a Meursault Rouge and a Volnay Premier Cru, which, yield permitting, can sometimes be split into Clos des Chênes and Taillepieds. In 2007 the regional wines included an Aligoté.

• Grand Cru: Corton-Charlemagne.
• Meursault Premier Cru: Perrières, Genevrières and Les Caillerets.
• Village whites: Meursault (based on two Narvaux parcels), Meursault Les Rougeots, Meursault Les Chevalières and Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseignères.
• Reds and regional wines: Bourgogne Blanc and Rouge, Auxey-Duresses, Monthélie Rouge, Meursault Rouge and Volnay Premier Cru.

The grapes are lightly crushed, just enough to liberate the juice during pressing. The juice is run into casks for fermentation and aged for anywhere from 15 months to almost two years depending on the vintage; maturation lasts at least two winters, fermentation is long and the malolactic conversion is slow. The finished wines are fined with egg whites and bottled primarily by hand with a chèvre à deux becs (a double spigot), which can bottle a maximum of eight casks in a day. The corks are hand-selected. Under Jean-François, new oak ran at around 50 percent with an average of 22 months in barrel. Raphaël Coche has supplemented the traditional mechanical press with a pneumatic press, introduced automated bottling for some cuvées while keeping the hand method for many, and reduced the proportion of new wood to 20 to 25 percent for most wines. For the reds he has introduced 10 to 15 percent whole-cluster fermentation after a two- or three-day cold soak, with a relatively short total vatting time; he cools the harvest in warm weather.

• Fermented in cask and aged 15 months to almost two years, over at least two winters; slow malolactic conversion.
• Fined with egg whites; bottled primarily by hand with a chèvre à deux becs, up to eight casks a day; automated bottling for some cuvées.
• New wood reduced by Raphaël to 20 to 25 percent for most wines, from around 50 percent under Jean-François.
• Pneumatic press added alongside the traditional mechanical press; reds with 10 to 15 percent whole clusters after a two- or three-day cold soak.

Robert Parker called Jean-François Coche ‘one of the greatest winemakers on planet earth’. Burgundy Report suggested that Parker may have brought the domaine to the attention of a wide public in the late 1980s and early 1990s, while noting that its reputation in France was already high. Writing in Decanter in April 2022, Charles Curtis MW found that the wines sell for several times the price of those from the most illustrious fellow vignerons in Meursault. He found that the inaugural 1986 Corton-Charlemagne had sold that year for an average of more than £5,500 a bottle at auction, and that the 1986 Meursault Perrières had averaged roughly £3,200 a bottle the year before, against just over £760 ten years earlier.

Raphaël Coche frames the cellar work as responsive to each year: ‘There is no recipe – the élévage depends upon the life the vine has lived during the season’. He has also observed that ‘once, we produced wine that said more about Coche-Dury than about the terroirs.’ Charles Curtis MW judged that under Raphaël the domaine has seen a subtle evolution more than a revolution, with less new wood and less bâtonnage, while the wines keep the trademark Coche freshness. Tasting mature bottles in 2007, Burgundy Report found the wines only mildly oak-influenced on the aromatics and, in the mouth, uniformly clean, linear and savoury rather than sweet.

Secondary sources: Decanter (Charles Curtis MW, producer profile, last updated 6 April 2022): https://www.decanter.com/premium/domaine-coche-dury-producer-profile-477612/ and Burgundy Report (profile dated 22 March 2007, updated 28 April 2010): https://www.burgundy-report.com/burgundy-report-extra/03-2007/domaine-coche-dury-meursault/. Last verified 2026-10-19.