Four levels and the climats
Burgundy ranks the land, not the estate. The Bourgogne wine board counts 84 appellations: 7 regional, 44 village and 33 grand cru, with the premiers crus classified inside the village appellations. A regional wine, labelled Bourgogne, can come from anywhere in the region. A village wine carries the name of its commune, such as Volnay or Gevrey-Chambertin. A premier cru adds the name of its climat to the village, as in Chablis Premier Cru Montée de Tonnerre. A grand cru drops the village altogether, and the label reads simply Corton, Montrachet or Clos de Tart. Our premier cru and grand cru pages gather the two top levels.
A climat is a plot of vines named and marked out over centuries, often since the Middle Ages, with its own geology and exposure. Its grapes are vinified apart, from a single variety, and the wine takes its name. Some climats are clos, plots traditionally surrounded by dry-stone walls. On 4 July 2015 the Climats, terroirs of Burgundy were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The site covers more than 1,000 climats along the 60 kilometre fault line of the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune, from Dijon to the Maranges, with the towns of Dijon and Beaune.
Chablis
The vineyards of Chablis lie halfway between Beaune and Paris, spread over some 20 communes along the valley of the Serein. Every Chablis is white, made from Chardonnay. The appellations form a pyramid: Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru and, at the top, Chablis Grand Cru, recognised on 13 January 1938. The grand cru is a single appellation divided into seven climats on the right bank of the Serein: Bougros, Preuses, Vaudésir, Grenouilles, Valmur, Les Clos and Blanchot. The vines grow on marl and Kimmeridgian limestone, full of tiny fossil oysters laid down some 150 million years ago. The wine board gives the grand cru ten to fifteen years of keeping, sometimes more. Two Chablis domaines have their own page here: François Raveneau, founded in 1948, and Vincent Dauvissat.
The Côte de Nuits
The Côte de Nuits runs about 20 kilometres from Dijon to Corgoloin, on a strip of slope only 200 metres wide in places. It is mostly red wine country, from Pinot Noir, and it holds most of Burgundy's grands crus. From north to south come Marsannay, Fixin and Gevrey-Chambertin, whose Chambertin became a grand cru on 31 July 1937. Then follow Morey-Saint-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny with Musigny, and the Clos de Vougeot, founded by the monks of Cîteaux around 1110. Last come Vosne-Romanée, home of Richebourg and La Tâche, and Nuits-Saint-Georges. Behind the slope, the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits grow vines between 300 and 400 metres and have been replanted since the 1950s.
Many of our domaines are here. Dugat-Py works in Gevrey, while Ponsot and Stéphane Magnien are in Morey. Vosne is the home of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and of Jean Grivot, and Emmanuel Rouget works at Flagey-Échezeaux next door. Naudin-Ferrand farms in the Hautes-Côtes.
The Côte de Beaune
The Côte de Beaune continues for about 20 kilometres, from Ladoix-Serrigny to the Maranges. Pinot Noir leads around Beaune. The hill of Corton holds two grands crus, Corton and the white Corton-Charlemagne. Then come Beaune, Pommard and Volnay. From Meursault southwards, Chardonnay takes over. Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet share the grand cru Montrachet, and four more white grands crus carry its name, Chevalier-Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet among them. Among our estates, Michel Lafarge farms in Volnay, Coche-Dury in Meursault and Ramonet in Chassagne, where Pierre Ramonet made his first harvest in 1929.
The Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais
South of the Côte de Beaune lies the Côte Chalonnaise, some 25 kilometres long. Its village appellations are Bouzeron, Rully, Mercurey, Givry and Montagny, and Bouzeron is the only one made entirely from Aligoté. Domaine Joblot has worked in Givry since 1946.
The Mâconnais, the southern end of Burgundy, runs for 35 kilometres between Sennecey-le-Grand and Saint-Vérand. Chardonnay dominates, and most of the reds are Gamay. The abbey of Cluny, founded in the early tenth century, shaped these vineyards, and its monks founded the Clos des Vignes du Maynes at Cruzille. Pouilly-Fuissé, in the south of the area, has had 22 premier cru climats since 21 November 2020.
Grapes, labels and keeping
Most Burgundy is made from a single grape. Chardonnay is the most planted, then Pinot Noir, with Aligoté third; Gamay, Sauvignon at Saint-Bris and César at Irancy make up the rest. On a label, read the level first, then the place, then the producer. A climat can be divided among many owners, as the Clos de Vougeot is, so the name of the domaine matters as much as the place. The wine board gives Chambertin at least ten years of keeping and Clos de Vougeot ten to thirty, while Bonnes-Mares can age for thirty to fifty years. It suggests serving white Bourgogne at 11 to 13°C, young red Bourgogne at 12 to 14°C and older reds at 14 to 16°C. The wines above are the Burgundies of our cellar, from regional Bourgogne to grand cru.
