Jacky Truchot: the unknown mystery from Burgundy

Jacky Truchot: the unknown mystery from Burgundy. When you think of legendary producers from Burgundy, you are more likely to think of names like: Domaine de La Romanée-Conti or Henri Jayer rather than Jacky Truchot. However, given the outstanding and consistent quality of his wines, the absence of fame throughout Truchot's career is one of Burgundy's modern mysteries. - TEXT MILAN VELD

Insider wines

From plots in Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-Saint-Denis and Chambolle- Musigny, Jacky Truchot made from the late 1970s until the 2005 harvest in his own unconventional way. 'Old-fashioned' Bourgognes according to traditional winemaking: 100 per cent de-stemmed, no cold maceration, little new oak and no clarification or filtration.

In the vineyard, high yields and no green harvesting meant that his wines were always close to the maximum permissible yield of the appellation. Despite this, his wines have always had a very good reputation among Burgundy connoisseurs and were true 'insider wines'.

Shot up

Jacky Truchot learned the trade from his older cousin Henri Mauffre after returning from the French-Algerian war in 1961. He gradually took over from 1973 and officially in 1980.

Truchot stuck to the same, very traditional winemaking of this era until his retirement after the 2005 harvest. He sold almost all his vineyards to David Duband. Except for a small piece of the walled vineyard Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Clos Sorbés, because you have to have something to do. Not least for your own consumption.

Since then, Truchot's wines have skyrocketed in price. Good Burgundy is never cheap, of course. But a 1996 Morey-Saint-Denis Clos Sorbés 1er Cru that cost 75 French francs (about 11.50 euros) in 1999 af domain. Now fetches around 1,200 euros at auction. David Duband's wines, which are more 'masculine', dark and perhaps more technically correct, don't even come close in terms of price....

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