2022 Auxey-Duresses Rouge, Domaine Fabien Coche, Burgundy

Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or. Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.

A small village in a side valley off the Côte de Beaune, with a slightly cooler local climate making for a more austere style of Burgundy. Nonetheless this can be an excellent source of relatively inexpensive wine in warmer years, or from top producers. At the moment production is about 75:25 red to white. The reds can age well, while the whites can have a most attractive minerality.

Fabien Coche is a fourth-generation vigneron who took over from his father, Alain, in 2005. From the ’20 vintage the name of the domaine changed from Coche-Bizouard to Fabien Coche. The Coche family is well known in Burgundy: Raphaël Coche-Dury is a cousin, and the two domaines were one until they split in 1949.