World Class White Wine Investment: Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne In Whole Boxes

The last time we visited Coche-Dury's Corton-Charlemagne, it was with the words: "Here it is not about WHAT can be obtained, but IF it can be obtained," and here, one and a half years later, there is still something to talk about. Back then, it was about loose bottles. Still, now two whole cases have been successfully sourced, providing something close to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure investment in hyper-rare white Burgundy Grand Cru in whole cases from the king of white Burgundy.

White grand cru is produced in even smaller quantities than red Grand Cru, while demand seems to be increasing. And here we are dealing with the best of the bunch.

King Of White Burgundy: Jean-Francois Coche And Domaine Coche-Dury

In a region where the market is dominated by producers with extraordinarily long and traditional histories, Domaine Coche-Dury has manifested itself at the top of the hierarchy in a very short time - seen from a wine history perspective. The domain was founded by Léon Coche. However, we have to go until 1973 before things finally get going. This is when Jean-Francois Coche and his wife Odile Dury took over the family domain, and Domaine Coche-Dury as we know it today became a reality.

Almost everything Jean-Francois Coche has touched has been a success, and whether we are talking about village or grand cru, his wines belong to the absolute top. To put this in perspective, Coche-Dury's second variety grapes are bought by such prominent names as Louis Latour and Louis Jadot.

Today, his son Raphaël has taken over. Although Jean-Francois Coche stands as a legend in Burgundy, all indications are that the family tradition of excellence will be upheld and Domaine Coche-Dury will endure.

Jean-Francois Coche officially retired in 2010, which means that here you can invest in one of the last vintages the legend himself has been involved in.

Most Expensive, Prestigious And Sought-After White Wines

For the alert reader, it is probably redundant to stress that we are dealing with extremely expensive wine here. Yet there are indeed big jumps up to the most expensive of the kind. According to a report by Liv-ex, published in April this year, Coche-Dury's Corton-Charlemagne is the 7th most expensive wine traded on Liv-ex in the past year, but you still have to add 50 % to the price here before we reach the 6th most expensive. If we go to the top of the list, the price is more than five times higher. These are absurd figures, but on the face of it, it also suggests that there is no ceiling on what white wine can cost. Liv-ex reports that a third of the top 100 white wines traded over the last year are in the £10,000 per 12x75cl category, which is the most expensive category - this proportion has never been higher.

Wines from Coche-Dury are in demand, and in a May report Liv-ex also testifies to this: Their Meursault is in the top 10 most traded white wines on Liv-ex in the past year (May to May). This covers a market share of 2.2 %, with the most traded (Screaming Eagle Sauvignon Blanc) covering 5.8 % of trade. It is important to note here that this is measured in trading volume and not value - and across all white wine on the exchange. In other words: This statistic is not pulled up by the fact that we are dealing with expensive bottles.

2009 Corton-Charlemagne - Quality And Size

Like many others, Robert Parker is enthusiastic and describes Jean-Francois Coche as one of the best winemakers in Burgundy. The standard is towering, and the domain has consistently delivered some of the best white wines in Burgundy for decades.

Given that it is more about whether you can source Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne, rather than which ones you can source – and the fact that they consistently deliver towering levels, it is almost redundant to look at the scores of the 2009 vintage that this investment tip is about.

It is worth mentioning that the 2009 vintage, with 95 points from Burghound, 96 from Wine Advocate, and 98 from Vinous, is among the top eight of this millennium.

“All the Coche signatures are present…”

Vinous about 2009 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne

With the vintage of 2009, the above quote is worth noting. Vinous has tasted this vintage four times, which is rarely seen among these reviewers. The score here has been raised each time, from 93 points in 2010 to 98 points in 2016. The 2009 vintage seems to be maturing exceptionally well and is judged by Vinous to have many good years left.

But it is not only the quality that underlines the prestige and exclusivity of Coche-Dury's Corton-Charlemagnes. The 2009 vintage was harvested from just 28 rows of wine from 0.34 hectares of Corton-Charlemagne. With a yield of 40 hl/ha (white Grand Cru classification in Burgundy), this yields fewer than 2,000 bottles. But Coche-Dury probably has even lower yields to ensure the sublime quality.

Coche-Dury And Corton-Charlemagne As Investment Cases

There is evidence that white wine is on the rise. Coche-Dury certainly is.

According to Liv-ex, the price of the last 10 vintages that have been on the market for a minimum of five years has, over the past five years, produced an average return of 138.1%, or 18.9% on average per year.

One of the explanations is good old supply and demand theory, and supply remains a challenge. There is currently no 2009 Corton-Charlemagne in whole cases offered for sale on wine-searcher.com and very few offers for loose bottles at the time of writing. But the wine-searcher.com database also suggests that we deal with something very special. Since August 2014 (the first available data point), the average offer price of 2009 vintage bottles on wine-searcher.com has increased by 304.5%. This nicely matches the trend Liv-ex reports, as this gives an average annual increase of 19% over the past eight years.

It is also worth noting that the bottles were "only" loose in both cases - not in whole boxes. The price per bottle is about 16% higher if they come in a whole box and are in perfect condition - exactly what you can invest in here. The above underlines how exclusive and sought-after Coche-Dury's Corton-Charlemagne is and how much more attractive the bottles are if they come in whole cases.

But it is not just the crown jewel of Coche-Dury that has provided investors with solid returns. Since February 2019, all of Coche-Dury's Premier Cru and below under the management of RareWine Invest have returned an average of 57.2%, or 13.5% on average per year for 43 months - this includes the domain's commune wines such as Bourgogne Blanc and Meursault Blanc. A testimony to the class of Coche-Dury.

RareWine Invest's Opinion

Historically, among the best, most expensive, and rarest wines, we see the biggest price increases. Coche-Dury's Corton-Charlemagne falls into all three of these categories.

Paradoxically, it is almost unnecessary to talk about quality here. Partly because the quality level is consistently extremely high and partly because this is more about whether something is available than what is available.

We have managed to source two full cases of 2009 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne, which you can now secure. This is not just an investment in some of the best and rarest white wines in the world. This is an investment in the Coche-Dury brand and legend. There is the added upside that here we are dealing with a white Grand Cru case among all the reds - and judging by all of the above, it suggests that demand for the best white wines is rising.