Growing regions: Burgundy

Burgundy - do the most expensive and the best wines in the world come from Burgundy?

If you name the famous growing region of Burgundy, you can mention in one breath the Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay - both exist in quite great qualities!

Burgundy is structured as follows, if you go from north to south:

It starts with the Chablis region (northwest), one of the most frost-prone areas in the world. Chardonnay is predominantly grown there and the area under cultivation is divided into Chablis AC, Petit Chablis, Premier Cru and Grand Cru. There are 7 Grand Cru sites (Les Clos, Bougros, Vaudésir, Valmur, Blanchot, Les Preusses, Les Grenouilles) and 40 Premier Cru sites such as Mont de Milieu, Montée de Tonnerre, Fourchaume, Vaillons, Montmains - to name a few.

The soil in Chablis is characterized by limestone
The soil is predominantly limestone, clay and fossil shells (Kimmeridge limestone, as the Paris basin extends from Burgundy to the south of England to the village of Kimmeridge). This gives the Chablis wine a typical flinty hue.

The Côte d`Or is the most famous region in Burgundy
After Chablis comes the most famous region - the Côte d`Or. This is divided into the Côte de Nuits in the north, where mainly Pinot Noir is grown, and the Côte de Beaune in the south, where mainly Chardonnay is grown. The Côte d`Or is also called the heartland of Burgundy and almost all Grand Crus and Premiers Crus are found there. The vineyards are oriented to the south or southeast and the best qualities are found in the middle part of the slope. Above that it is often too cool and the grapes cannot develop as well, and further down the slope the soils are too heavy and produce less dense wines.

The classification in Burgundy is terroir-based
The classification - unlike in Bordeaux is based on terroir. So it is the geographical possibility that counts, not the actual quality in the bottle. For Grand Cru sites, however, there is a considerable yield restriction of about 25hl/ha.

The lowest quality is the AOP Bourgogne (65% of total production) and any white wine that does not explicitly say AOP Bourgogne is a Chardonnay!

Above that is the Village AOP (23% of production), above that is the Premier Cru AOP (11%) and at the top are the Grand Cru AOP with 1.4% of production.

The 18 Grand Crus sites in the Côte de Nuits

In the Côte de Nuits there are 18 Grand Crus sites, all of them red except Musigny. In order to become more famous, the villages have added their best vineyards to the village name. Thus, the following Grand Cru vineyards were created:
Bonnes Mares, Chambertin, Chambertin-Clos-de-Bèze, Chapelle-Chambertin, Charmes-Chambertin, Clos des Lambrays, Clos de la Roche, Clos St. Denis, Clos de Tart, Clos de Vougeot, Echézeaux, Grands Echézeaux, La Grande Rue, Grottes-Chambertin, Latricières-Chambertin, Mazis-Chambertin, Musigny (red and white), Richebourg, La Romanée, Romanée-Conti, Romanée-St.- Vivant, Ruchottes-Chambertin, La Tâche.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is the most famous winery in the world

La Tâche is one of the most famous vineyards in the commune of Vosne-Romanée. Famous winery is Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, which owns this vineyard site. It is one of the most expensive wines that this vineyard produces.

Aubert de Villaine - is both co-owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and owner of Domaine de Villaine. You can find these wines in our store at the moment - they come from a purchase of a wine merchant who collected both wines.

The southern part, the Côte d`Or, the Côte de Beaune is almost twice the size of the Côte de Nuits! The dominant grape variety here is Chardonnay, although there are also beautiful, somewhat robust Pinot Noirs. The two Grand Cru sites such as Corton and Montrachet are associated with great wines or matured and powerful Chardonnays, just like the Premier Crus from Puligny, Chassagne and Meursault.

The 8 Grand Cru sites of the Côte de Beaune

They are all white except Corton, there we have white and red wines!

Corton-Charlemagne, Charlemagne, Corton, Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet, Montrachet,
Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet.
Domaine Ramonet - which can also be found in our store at the moment, is a very
great producer of Bâtard -Montrachet and Bienvenues- Bâtard -Montrachet.
South of the Côte d`Or joins the Côte Chalonnaise, which is considered a cheaper region and offers very good alternatives. There are no Grand Crus there, but there are remarkable Premier Cru wines. The red wines there are often made from Pinot Noir and Gamay, the Chardonnay is grown very varietal.

Sparkling wine production Crémant de Bourgogne

In the Côte Chalonnaise, a lot of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir is also grown for sparkling wine production, Crémant de Bourgogne. In addition, Gamay is pressed with lesser quality lots of Pinot Noir to produce Bourgogne Passetoutgrains. Two-thirds Gamay (maximum) and one-third Pinot Noir (minimum).

There are no Grand Cru sites - but there are five communal AOPs, four of which also have Premier Cru sites. (Bouzeron, Rully, Mercurey, Givry, Montagny).

The end of this long Burgundy region is the Mâconnais with its somewhat more rustic Chardonnays. There are also above-average Chardonnays, which come from the commune of Pouilly-Fuissé and its surroundings and are considerably less expensive than the great Chardonnays from the Côte d`Or.

Following the Mâconnais is the Beaujolais - in the past it was still counted as part of Burgundy, but today it is considered a separate wine region.