Domaine Fabien Coche, Pommard, Vieilles Vignes 2016

Winemaker’s notes:

In most vintages, the top red bottling in Fabien Coche’s line-up is the Platiere Premier Cru. In 2016, the crop from La Platiere was so small that Fabien declassified the juice and blended it with wine from the oldest vines in the Les Crenilles vineyard to produce a Pommard Vieilles-Vignes. In contrast with Pommard’s reputation for producing tannic and demanding wines, this bottling is the product of Coche’s use of the ancient Burgundian “chapeau immerge” winemaking technique which creates a more delicate, precise and pure wine with fine, refined tannins balanced by deep, rich fruit flavors. This offering is an outstanding bargain, offering largely Premier Cru fruit at Village-level tariff. In 2017, Fabien will resume separately bottling La Platiere, with the output from Les Crenilles going to other red bottlings.

Created in 1940 and formerly known as Coche-Bizouard, the Domaine Fabien Coche cultivates all the nobility of the great wines of Burgundy. To the extent that some confusion exists with these two domaines it’s because they once shared almost identical labels. Today the domaine is run by Alain’s son Fabien and the wines feature a new, modern label. (ah…burgundy! grrr)

Located in Meursault (21 Côte d'Or), this family estate has 12 hectares of vines spread over Meursault, Pommard, Auxey-Duresses, Monthélie, Saint-Romain, Saint-Aubin and Puligny-Montrachet.

The Domaine Coche Fabien uses traditional methods for the production of its wines: vineyard work, farming, bottling ... every step is done so as to ensure production of exception.
Preserving the nature of the soil is one of the main concerns of your producer, which limits the use of chemicals (plowed soil, environmental protection, etc.).

Vineyards: Pommard La Platiere & Les Crenilles - La Platiere is a higher altitude vineyard in the northern portion of Pommard with chalky limestone-marl; Les Crenilles sits on shallow brown, alluvial soil at lower altitude near the village center.

Hand harvested, 50% whole-cluster pressed, cold-stabilized and fermented, minimum 12 months in barrel, majority of which is used oak.