Coche-Dury Meursault 2019

Aromas of crisp Anjou pear, lime zest, orange oil, fresh hazelnuts and white flowers introduce the 2019 Meursault Village, a medium to full-bodied, layered and incisive wine that's chalky and concentrated, with racy acids and an abundance of structuring dry extract. When I was served this wine blind a month after tasting it at the domaine, I mistook it for its 2017 counterpart, which should give some indication of the pitch-perfect balance Raphaël Coche succeeded in attaining in the more extreme 2019 vintage.

As I have written before, recent vintages have witnessed a stylistic evolution at Domaine Coche-Dury. In Raphaël Coche's words, the domaine now works with "less new oak, less bâtonnage and less heavy lees." The distinctively toasty, sometimes reductive signature that marked out the Coche-Dury wines of yesteryear is less pronounced. But, as Raphaël emphasizes, that has been the case for some time. "The last vintages marked by pronounced reduction were 1999 and 2007," he observes. "And I didn't initiate the move toward a purer, less stylized approach alone: my father and I agreed on the change of direction together." Some clients, Raphaël says, have complained, but his response is uncompromising. "They may want the vinification [techniques] in the glass, but I want to taste the terroir."

The fundamentals of Domaine Coche-Dury's singular style, it bears repeating, remain the same: attentive viticulture (now with somewhat higher hedging and seasonal cover crops); harvesting on the early side; a rare aptitude—which seems to have been passed down from father to son—for knowing how hard to press and for how long; careful choice of barrels; and long, patient and meticulously supervised fermentations and élevage. The wines continue to be distinguished by their incisive acids, striking intensity and frequently appreciable presence of dry extract—the latter is something Raphaël argues can bring structure and freshness to wines from the warm vintages that Burgundy is witnessing more and more frequently. There isn't a Coche formula, rather there is a Coche palate, for decisions are made by tasting. "When my grandfather used to say winemaking was an art, sometimes I wondered what he had been smoking, but more and more I agree—it's all a question of feeling," says Raphaël. Jean-François, I should add, is also very much a continuing presence at the domaine. "My father comes by every day and gives his opinion," Raphaël confirms.

On my last visit to the domaine, I took the opportunity to discuss a few other developments with Raphaël. The first is that all the estate's labels now read simply "Coche-Dury," an acknowledgement that, for certain cuvées, Raphaël is prepared to purchase grapes to supplement his production. "If I don't want to have an accountant telling me what to do, I need to produce a certain number of bottles per year. In a year when crops are small, such as 2016, I would rather purchase some high-quality grapes than cut any corners in the cellar to improve cash flow," he explained with candor. "The day I'm not able to make my wines exactly the way I want to, to my own standards, is the day when I'll change professions," he emphasizes. In other words, a little négociant activity chez Coche-Dury—itself not without precedent—is about running a healthy and independent business.

The second is that Raphaël has acquired a custom bottling line. "I have been looking into it for a decade, but for a long time I wasn't satisfied with the available technology." Readers may remember that Coche-Dury has long been a holdout for bottling direct from the barrel, with a two-headed spigot known as a "chèvre à deux becs." "I really wanted to find a system that gave just as good a result as the chèvre," he continues, "which means bottling by gravity, with only a very small gradient between the bottle and the wine." After years of research and trials, Raphaël has finally found a system that meets his criteria. "I remain a partisan of the chèvre," he notes, "and two-thirds of the production is still bottled by hand that way." So, commentators who claim the domaine has entirely abandoned the old system are very much mistaken. "But the new system in some respects gives an even better result," he explains. "The barrels are assembled before bottling to make a homogenous blend, and the bottles are properly washed." The thoughtfulness with which Coche has approached this subject is typical of the attention to detail he brings to every aspect of the winemaking process.

And what of the wines? The 2019 vintage is a real success, exhibiting all the concentration and cut typical of the year but without any of the heaviness or alcoholic weight that it can sometimes display elsewhere. In style, analogies among recent vintages aren't obvious: the concentration and dry extract of 2015 come to mind, but the wines exhibit racier spines of acidity. Seamless and elegant, this is a beautiful portfolio (in both colors) that comes warmly recommended.