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Burgundy is objectively one of the most complicated wine regions in the world. It comes with its own vocabulary, criss-crossed maps, and, most importantly - philosophical concepts. Though the major grapes here are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and obscure white Aligoté, the labels are far more confusing. The golden slope, or Côte d'Or is a winemaking region which lies on a ridge that bisects the rolling hills of Burgundy snaking from the north to the south, offering a variety of sun angles and soil types that are ideal for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The nugget at the center of Burgundy’s complexity is a concept called Terroir, and if you have any familiarity with wine at all, you’ve probably heard this word before. It is utterly untranslatable, and I urge you to check out the article linked to the word.
The most common translation for this word is fairly erroneous, certainly considering a large portion of our native tongue is borrowed from the norman neighbors to the south. Most Burgundy enthusiasts simply say, Sense of Place. It’s easier to remember what the word refers to, which is the combination of soil composition, aspect to the sun, topography, microclimate, and wind - and, how all of these affect grapes grown vine-to-vine, vineyard-to-vineyard, and bunch-to-bunch. The term is not specific to Burgundy, certainly, but Burgundy takes the philosophy of Terroir and extrapolates it out into legal code.
The monastic structure of the church took a dramatic foothold in Burgundy several centuries ago, and the result was the propagation of Climat. Monks were responsible for the cultivation a fabrication of wine for communion use, and, fortunately, seemed to have had a lot of time on their hands to do so. Climat are areas that the monks noticed had different soil types, different aspect, and different climate qualities that made wine flavors different than those around it.
They divided Burgundy’s Cote D’Or, golden slope, into parcels, and gave them names, like Les Suchot, En Orveaux, or Aux Malconsorts, sometimes even naming them after beautiful maidens, or flowers - then judged them based on their ability to produce incredible wine, by Cru, or growth - thus, some parcels became more prestigious than others.
The best of these sites were called Great Growths, Grand Cru, of which thirty-three sites were delegated. Unfortunately, you as the consumer just have to memorize their names and village location, as many bottles do not say Grand Cru on the labels. Generally, these sites exist on the middle of the slopes, facing south-east. The sun rises in the east, meaning a warmer morning for extended ripening, but these spots avoid the hot afternoon sun that can cook the grapes.
The next best Climat were given the title, Premier Cru, First Growth, these spots usually rest on the higher slopes, often with all-day sunlight. There are six-hundred and forty, so generally these will have the village name, and Premier Cru on the label. The vineyards next to the towns are called village-level wines.
Any wine labeled with the name of the province, Burgundy, that is, falls short of the quality standards to be labeled a growth, either because of where it was grown, or how the winery has decided to market it. Some vintners are choosing to blend and assortment different Cru into wines labeled this way, meaning more and more, there can be some excellent value in this category.
By 1789, the revolution was under foot, and the properties were auctioned off to the highest bidder, after being seized from the church. Some of these original buyer’s families still have major footholds in Burgundy today. Names like Camuzet, Liger-Belair, Dujac, Mugneret, Latour and others all acquired land at this period.
In order to auction off properties, the French government established a survey of land in many regions around France, culminating in the eventual breakdown of more specific, even smaller parcels into what were known as Lieu-Dit, Said-Place. This system delineated individual vineyards within the original Climat.
Because of the laws at the time, land holdings were to flow from the original buyers to their descendants, equally. Thus, today, you sometimes see producers than may only have two or three vines in any given plot - quantities are very small for all wines in Burgundy, and due to demand, village-quality table wines sell for over fifty-dollars per bottle.
Burgundy never enjoyed the success with the English market that Bordeaux had, because they were landlocked prior to the advent of France’s railway system. They really haven’t caught up in terms of production. In the early 1900’s, phylloxera struck Europe, and many of the impoverished producers of Burgundy lost their vines, vineyards and means of producing wine at all.
It was during this time that families with large landholdings began to buy up land to plant vines on new rootstock. This gave these families a competitive edge, enough so that some, in the fashion of Bordeaux, began to eventually buy up whole fruit from different climat, make wine, and bottle that fruit under their own labels.
This system resulted in a network of negoçiantes in the 1900’s - larger quantities were now easier to export as these larger houses had the means to ship large quantities via the new railroads, and pay export duties. Some Bordeaux houses even got involved in the trade, as production faltered under Phylloxera. This put Burgundy on the international map, and established it as a fine-wine region. Many large houses, such as Louis Jadot arose during this time.
It wasn’t until the 1950’s that consumers began to see the international rise of domaine-bottled wines from Burgundy. This was a huge change from what consumers of Burgundy had come to expect. This was the winemakers who would generally be selling grapes to large negociante houses, now had the opportunity to bottle their own wines for international export. Often if you scan a Burgundy Label for, mis en bouteille au domaine, this means, bottled at the domaine. These wines tended to far-exceed the quality of the old negoçiante system.
If you're seeking an affordable domaine-bottled wine, look no further than Sylvain Pataille's Bourgogne Rouge. Don't scoff a the regional label, this Marsannay based producer is biodynamic and his wines, including his wonderful Bourgogne Rouge, are much sought after, and frequently bought in assortment cases. Marsannay is another value region which is essentially a suburb of Dijon. These grapes come from all over the Côte de Nuits, including the estate's premier cru vineyards near the Marsannay combe. It's a wonderfully floral wine with a peppery-nettle characteristic. Delicate and soft, this wine is an awesome finish for its price range. It leads with flavors of blackcurrant, strange for a Burgundy, but it eases into some pomegranate, and mushroom flavors, vanilla bean and, cinnamon. Very complex, and an awesome starting point into the world of Burgundy.
Today, the vineyards are divided up among the ancestry of the original post-revolution buyers. Some producers are making excellent wines, others not so much. The complexity of this situation is exasperated by the fact that the names are all common family names, and the fact that some of these land owners own nicer plots in one climat vs. another. For example, Dominique Mugneret owns a nicer plot of Vosne-Romanée vines, than Mongeard-Mugneret, who in term owns a nicer plot of Vougeot than almost anyone else.
All together there are twenty-five AOC village level climat between the CdNuits and CdBeaune appellations and the Grands Cru of these villages are contained within There are some villages in Burgundy itself, such as Flagey-Echézeaux, which do not have an AOC, though this appellation is a Grand Cru, it resides within the Vosne-Romanée appellation. Furthermore, you will notice that some villages are hyphenated. The hyphen was used in the dys of old to denote notable vineyards within the town.
The town of Gevrey began to put the Grand Cru vineyard, Chambertin in a hyphen next to their name, to inform consumers that the village contained the exquisite vineyard in order that their village wine may benefit from the notoriety. The region is divided up into four different zones from north to south: Chablis, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Beaune, and the Côte Chalonnais. The above map outlines and displays the Climat of the two most prestigious zones: the Côte de Nuits, which runs from Marsannay to Nuits-St.-Georges, and Côte de Beaune, which is the southerly part whcih runs from Savigny-Lès-Beaune to Maranges in the far south, at the end of the Côte.
The Grand Cru, and often some of the Premier Cru vineyards often include the word, Clos within - this is something you may notice. This is a monastic word that implies a walled vineyard - if you visit Burgundy you will notice a lot of very old walled-in vineyards - this was an old technique to help mark desirable plots. Though if you are seeking value in Burgundy, I urge you to try to seek out village level wines, like Fixin.
LES GRANDS CRUS
________________________________________________ Gevrey Chambertin
Chambertin
Clos de Bèze
Chapelle-Chambertin
Charmes-Chambertin
Griotte-Chambertin
Latricières-Chambertin
Mazis-Chambertin
Mazoyères-Chambertin
Ruchottes-Chambertin
Morey-St.-Denis
Bonnes-Mares
Clos de la Roche
Clos des Lambrays
Clos de Tart (Monopole)
Clos Saint Denis
Chambolle-Musigny
Musigny
Vougeot
Clos de Vougeot
Vosne-Romanée
Echézeaux {article linked}
Grands-Echézeaux
La Grande Rue (Monopole)
La Tâche (Monopole)
La Romanée (Monopole)
Richebourg
Romanée-Conti (Monopole)
Romanée-St.-Vivant
Aloxe-Corton
Corton
Ladoix-Serrigny
Corton-Charlemagne
Pernand-Verlgelesses
Charlemagne
Puligny-Montrachet
Bâtard-Montrachet
Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet
Chevalier-Montrachet
Montrachet
Chassagne-Montrachet
Croits-Bâtard-Montrachet
Chablis
Chablis Grand Cru {article linked}
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That's all,
~K
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