Côtes du Couchois Whites Win Their Own Name in Burgundy

Burgundy has a new white to discover. Under a decree of 29 October 2026, Chardonnay from the Côtes du Couchois can now be labelled Bourgogne Côtes du Couchois blanc, from the 2026 vintage onwards.

For the winegrowers of the Couchois, the decree crowns a collective effort begun in 2017, and it gives their whites the same standing their reds have long enjoyed.

A Small Vineyard Between Two Côtes

South of the Maranges, between the Côte de Beaune and the Côte Chalonnaise, family-run estates tend the vines of the Côtes du Couchois. The slopes, cut by small valleys, are shared between vines, meadows and woodland.

Red wines have carried the Côtes du Couchois name within the Bourgogne appellation since 2000; the whites join them at last.

Clays of a Thousand Colours

What sets the Couchois apart lies underfoot. Green, yellow, pink, purple or wine red, the clays laid down in the Triassic give the area a remarkable geological signature, and the growers speak of their lands of a thousand colours.

The vines climb slopes between 250 and 400 metres above sea level, where the coloured clays shape expressive Chardonnays, fresh and elegant, with a character all their own.

Growers United Behind Their Whites

The idea took shape among the estates in 2017, and on 6 April 2023 the producers voted unanimously to apply for recognition of their whites.

Working with the Syndicat des Bourgognes, they carried that request through to the decree of October 2026.

The First Vintage: 2026

The wines of the 2026 harvest will be the first to bear the new name. For importers and sommeliers across Asia-Pacific, it is a chance to follow these whites from the outset.

When the first bottles of Bourgogne Côtes du Couchois blanc are poured, the place will come with them: clays of a thousand colours, hillsides shared with meadow and wood, and some twenty families who wanted their whites to carry the name of home.