| Wine region | |
 | |
| Official name | Bourgogne |
|---|---|
| Type | Wine region |
| Year established | AOC in 1936 |
| Country | France |
| Sub-regions | |
| Climate region | Zone C I |
| Soil conditions | Argilo-limestone |
| Size of planted vineyards | 29,500 hectares 25,000 classified as AOC vineyards |
| No. of vineyards | 100AOCs |
| Grapes produced | 59.5% of white varieties, 33.8% of red varieties and 6.7% ofcrémant |
| Varietals produced | Pinot noir,Gamay, Chardonnay,Aligoté |
| Official designation(s) | Regional, village,1er cru andGrand cru |
| Comments | |
| Official name | Les climats du vignoble de Bourgogne |
| Location | Yonne,Saône-et-Loire,Côte d'Or,France |
| Part of | The Climats, terroirs of Burgundy |
| Criteria | Cultural: (iii)(v) |
| Reference | 1425-001 |
| Inscription | 2015 (39thSession) |
| Area | 13,118 ha (50.65 sq mi) |
| Buffer zone | 50,011 ha (193.09 sq mi) |
| Coordinates | 47°3′29″N4°51′52″E / 47.05806°N 4.86444°E /47.05806; 4.86444 |
  Burgundy wine Location of the Burgundy wine region in France | |
Burgundy wine (French:Bourgogne orvin de Bourgogne) is made in theBurgundy region of east-centralFrance,[1] in the valleys and slopes west of theSaône, a tributary of theRhône. The most famous wines produced here, and those commonly referred to as "Burgundies", aredry red wines made frompinot noir grapes and white wines made fromchardonnay grapes.
Red and white wines are also made from other grape varieties, such asgamay andaligoté, respectively. Small amounts of rosé andsparkling wines are also produced in the region. Chardonnay-dominatedChablis and gamay-dominatedBeaujolais are recognised as part of the Burgundy wine region, but wines from those subregions are usually referred to by their own names rather than as "Burgundy wines".
Burgundy has a higher number ofappellations d'origine contrôlée (AOCs) than any other French region, and is often seen as the mostterroir-conscious of the French wine regions. The various Burgundy AOCs areclassified from carefully delineatedgrand cru vineyards down to more non-specific regional appellations. The practice of delineating vineyards by theirterroir in Burgundy goes back to medieval times, when variousmonasteries played a key role in developing the Burgundy wine industry. The historical importance of the Burgundy wine region and its uniqueclimats system led to sites in the region being inscribed on theUNESCOWorld Heritage List as part of theClimats, terroirs of Burgundy site.[2]
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The Burgundy region runs fromAuxerre in the north toMâcon in the south, or toLyon if theBeaujolais area is included as part of Burgundy.Chablis, a white wine made from Chardonnay grapes, is produced in the area aroundAuxerre. Other smaller appellations near Chablis includeIrancy, which produces red wines andSaint-Bris, which produces white wines fromSauvignon blanc.
There are 100 appellations in Burgundy and these are classified into four quality categories. These are Bourgogne, village, premier cru and grand cru.[3] Eighty-five miles southeast of Chablis is theCôte d'Or, where Burgundy's most famous and most expensive wines originate, and where allGrand Cru vineyards of Burgundy (except for chablis grand cru) are situated. The Côte d'Or itself is split into two parts: theCôte de Nuits which starts just south ofDijon and runs tillCorgoloin, a few kilometers south of the town ofNuits-Saint-Georges, and theCôte de Beaune which starts atLadoix and ends at Dezize-les-Maranges. The wine-growing part of this area in the heart of Burgundy is just 40 kilometres (25 mi) long, and in most places less than 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide. The area is made up of tiny villages surrounded by a combination of flat and sloped vineyards on the eastern side of a hilly region, providing some rain and weather shelter from the prevailing westerly winds. The best wines - fromgrand cru vineyards - of this region are usually grown from the middle and higher part of the slopes, where the vineyards have the most exposure to sunshine and the best drainage, while thepremier cru come from a little less favourably exposed slopes. The relatively ordinary "village" wines are produced from the flat territory nearer the villages. The Côte de Nuits contains 24 out of the 25 redgrand cru appellations in Burgundy, while all but one of the region's whiteGrand Cru wines are in the Côte de Beaune (the exception being Musigny blanc). This is explained by the presence of differentsoils, which favour pinot noir and chardonnay, respectively.
Further south is theCôte Chalonnaise, where again a mix of mostly red and white wines are produced, although the appellations found here such asMercurey,Rully andGivry are less well-known than their counterparts in the Côte d'Or.
Below the Côte Chalonnaise is theMâconnais region, known for producing large quantities of easy-drinking and more affordable white wine. Further south again is the Beaujolais region, famous for fruity red wines made fromGamay grapes.
Burgundy's terrain iscontinental climate characterized by cold winters and hot summers. The weather is unpredictable, with rains, hail, and frost all possible around harvest time. Such a climate results in vintages from Burgundy varying considerably.
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Archaeological evidence establishesviticulture in Burgundy as early as the second century AD, although theCelts may have been growing vines in the region previous to theRoman conquest ofGaul in 51 BC.Greek traders, for whomviticulture had been practiced since the lateNeolithic period, had foundedMassalía in about 600 BC, and traded extensively up theRhône valley, wherethe Romans first arrived in the second century BC. The earliest recorded praise of the wines of Burgundy was written in 591 byGregory of Tours, who compared it to the Roman wineFalernian.[1]
Monks and monasteries of the Roman Catholic Church have had an important influence on the history of Burgundy wine. The first known donation of a vineyard to the Church was by KingGuntram in 587, but the influence of the Church became important inCharlemagne's era. TheBenedictines, through theirAbbey of Cluny founded in 910, became the first truly big Burgundy vineyard owner over the following centuries. Another order which exerted influence was theCistercians, founded in 1098 and named afterCîteaux, their first monastery, situated in Burgundy. The Cistercians created Burgundy's largest wall-surrounded vineyard, theClos de Vougeot, in 1336. More importantly, the Cistercians, extensive vineyard owners as they were, were the first to notice that different vineyard plots gave consistently different wines. They therefore laid the earliest foundation for the naming of Burgundycrus and the region'sterroir thinking.[1]
Since Burgundy is land-locked, very little of its wine left the region in medieval times, when wine was transported inbarrels, meaning that waterways provided the only practical means of long-range transportation. The only part of Burgundy which could reach Paris in a practical way was the area aroundAuxerre by means of theYonne. This area includes Chablis, but had much more extensive vineyards until the 19th century. These were the wines referred to asvin de Bourgogne in early texts. The wines from Côte d'Or would then be called(vin de) Beaune. These wines first became famous in the 14th century, during theBabylonian Captivity of the Papacy inAvignon, which was reachable bySaône andRhône after some overland transport. In the extravagance of the papal court,Beaune was generally seen as the finest wine, and better than anything available in Rome at that time.[1]
The status of Burgundy wines continued in the court of theHouse of Valois, which ruled asDukes of Burgundy for much of the 14th and 15th centuries. Their ban on the import and export of non-Burgundian wines, effectively shutting out the then popular wines of the Rhone Valley from Northern European markets, gave a considerable boost to the Burgundy wine industry.[4] It was during this era that the first reliable references to grape varieties in Burgundy were made. Pinot noir was first mentioned in 1370 under the name Noirien, but it was believed to have been cultivated earlier than that, since no other grape variety associated with medieval Burgundy is believed to have been able to produce red wines of a quality able to impress the papal court. On 6 August 1395,[5] DukePhilip the Bold issued a decree concerned with safeguarding the quality of Burgundy wines. The duke declared the "vile and disloyal Gamay"[6]—which was a higher-yielding grape than Pinot noir in the 14th century, as it is today—unfit for human consumption and banned the use of organicfertilizer (manure), which probably increased yields even further to the detriment of quality. High-quality white Burgundy wines of this era were probably made fromFromenteau, which is known as a quality grape in northeastern France in this time. Fromenteau is probably the same variety as today'sPinot gris. Chardonnay is a much later addition to Burgundy's vineyards.[1]
In the 18th century, the quality of roads in France became progressively better, which facilitated commerce in Burgundy wines. The firstnégociant houses of the region were established in the 1720s and 1730s. In the 18th century, Burgundy andChampagne were rivals for the lucrative Paris market, to which Champagne had earlier access. The two regions overlapped much in wine styles in this era, since Champagne was then primarily a producer of pale red still wines rather than of sparkling wines. A major work on Burgundy wines written byClaude Arnoux in 1728 deals with the famous red wines of Côte de Nuits and theŒil-de-Perdrix pink wines ofVolnay, but only briefly mentions white wines.[1]
After Burgundy became incorporated in the Kingdom of France, and the power of the Church decreased, many vineyards which had been in the Church's hands were sold to thebourgeoisie from the 17th century. After theFrench Revolution of 1789, the Church's remaining vineyards were broken up and from 1791 sold off.[1] The Napoleonic inheritance laws then resulted in the continued subdivision of the most preciousvineyard holdings, so some growers hold only a row or two ofvines. This led to the emergence ofnégociants who aggregate the produce of many growers to produce a single wine. It has also led to a profusion of increasingly smaller, family-ownedwineries, exemplified by the dozen-plusGros familydomaines.
The awareness of the difference of quality and style of Burgundy wines produced from different vineyards goes back to medieval times, with certainclimats being more highly rated than others. An early author on this aspect of Burgundy wines wasDenis Morelot with hisLa Vigne et le Vin en Côte d'Or from 1831. In 1855, the same year as the famousBordeaux Wine Official Classification was launched, Dr.Jules Lavalle published an influential book,Histoire et Statistique de la Vigne de Grands Vins de la Côte-d'Or, which included an unofficial classification of the Burgundy vineyards in five classes and which built on Morelot's book. In decreasing order, Lavalle's five classes werehors ligne,tête de cuvée,1ère cuvée,2me cuvée and3me cuvée.[7] Lavalle's classification was formalized in modified form by the Beaune Committee of Agriculture in 1861, and then consisted of three classes. Most of the "first class" vineyards of the 1861 classification were made intoGrand Cruappellations d'origine contrôlées when the national AOC legislation was implemented in 1936.[1]
Burgundy wine has experienced much change over the past 75 years. Economic depression during the 1930s was followed by the devastation caused by World War II. After the War, thevignerons returned home to their unkempt vineyards. The soils and vines had suffered and were sorely in need of nurturing. The growers began to fertilize, bringing their vineyards back to health. Those who could afford it addedpotassium, a mineral fertilizer that contributes to vigorous growth. By the mid-1950s, the soils were balanced, yields were reasonably low and the vineyards produced some of the most stunning wines in the 20th century.
For the next 30 years, they followed the advice of renownedviticultural experts, who advised them to keep spraying their vineyards with chemical fertilizers, including potassium. While a certain amount of potassium is natural in the soil and beneficial for healthy growth, too much is harmful because it leads to low acidity levels, which adversely affect the quality of the wine.
As the concentration of chemicals in the soil increased, so did the yields. In the past 30 years, yields have risen by two-thirds in theappellations contrôlées vineyards of the Côte d'Or, from 29 hectoliters per hectare (hl/ha) (yearly average from 1951 to 1960) to almost 48 hl/ha (1982–91), according to a study by the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine. With higher yields came wines of less flavor and concentration.[citation needed] Within 30 years, the soils had been significantly depleted of their natural nutrients.
The period between 1985 and 1995 was a turning point in Burgundy. During this time, many Burgundiandomaines renewed efforts in the vineyards and gradually set a new course in winemaking, producing deeper, more complex wines. Today, the Burgundy wine industry is reaping the rewards of those efforts.
Burgundy is in some ways the mostterroir-oriented region in France; immense attention is paid to the area of origin, and in which of the region's 400 types of soil a wine's grapes are grown. As opposed to Bordeaux, where classifications are producer-driven and awarded to individualchateaux, Burgundy classifications are geographically focused. A specific vineyard or region will bear a given classification, regardless of the wine's producer. This focus is reflected on the wine's labels, where appellations are most prominent and producers' names often appear at the bottom in much smaller text.
The main levels in the Burgundy classifications, in descending order of quality, are:Grand crus,Premier crus, village appellations, and finally regional appellations:[8][9][10]
Chablis wines are labeled using a similar hierarchy ofGrand Cru, Premier Cru, and Village wines, plusPetit Chablis as a level below Village Chablis. Wines from Beaujolais are treated still differently.
In general, producers are always allowed to declassify their wine in steps to a lower-ranked AOC if they wish to do so. Thus, a wine from aGrand Cru vineyard may be sold as aPremier Cru from that vineyard's village, aPremier Cru wine may be sold as a Village wine, and so on. This practice will almost invariably mean the declassified wine will have to be sold at a lower price, so this is only practiced when something is to be gained overall in the process. One motive may be to only includevines of a certain age in aGrand Cru wine, to improve its quality and raise its prestige and price, in which case the wine coming from younger vines may be sold as aPremier Cru at a lower price. Overall, such a practice may allow a producer to keep a higher average price for the wine sold.
In total, around 150 separate AOCs are used in Burgundy, including those of Chablis and Beaujolais.[19] While an impressive number, it does not include the several hundred named vineyards (lieux-dits) at the Village andPremier Cru level, which may be displayed on the label, since at these levels, only one set of appellation rules is available per village. The total number of vineyard-differentiated AOCs that may be displayed is well in excess of 500.
In 2003, the Burgundy vineyards (including Chablis but excluding Beaujolais) covered a total of 28,530 hectares (70,500 acres).[1] Côte d'Or as a whole, including Hautes Côtes de Beaune and Hautes Côtes de Nuits, covered 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres), of which the heartland of Côte de Nuits covered 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) and Côte de Beaune 3,600 hectares (8,900 acres).[20]
In 2000, Burgundy had a total of 3,200 winedomaines (compared to 50 in the early 19th century), of which 520 were in the department of Yonne, 1,100 in Côte-d'Or and 1,570 in Saône-et-Loir.[21] Generally, the small growers sell their grapes to larger producers, merchants callednégociants, who blend and bottle the wine.[9] The roughly 115négociants who produce the majority of the wine only control around 8% of the area. Individual growers have around 67% of the area, but produce and market only around 25% of the wine. Some small wineries produce only 100–200 cases/year, while many producers make a few thousand cases/year.
Grower/producer-made wines can be identified by the termsMis en bouteille au domaine,Mis au domaine, orMis en bouteille à la propriété. The largest producer isMaison Louis Latour in Beaune with 350,000 cases/year. Thenégociants may use the termMis en bouteille dans nos caves (bottled in our cellars), but are not entitled to use the estate-bottled designation of the grower/producers.[22] Mostnégociants tend to use the termMis en bouteille par... (bottled by...).
Of the white grapes, Chardonnay is the most common. Another grape found in the region,Aligoté, tends to produce cheaper wines which are higher in acidity. Aligoté from Burgundy is the wine traditionally used for theKir drink, where it is mixed withblack currant liqueur.Sauvignon blanc is also grown in the Saint Bris appellation. Chablis, Mâcon wines and the Côte d'Or whites are mostly produced from 100% Chardonnay grapes.
Of the red grapes, the majority of production in the Côte d'Or is focused on thePinot noir grape, while the Gamay grape is grown in Beaujolais. In the Côte de Nuits region, 90% of the production is red grapes.
Rules for the red Burgundy appellations, from regional toGrand Cru level, generally allow up to 15% of the white grape varieties Chardonnay,Pinot blanc andPinot gris to be blended in,[23] but this is not widely practised today.
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Burgundy is home to some of the most expensive wines in the world, including those ofDomaine de la Romanée-Conti,Domaine Leroy,Henri Jayer,Domaine Leflaive andDomaine Armand Rousseau.
Its renown goes back many centuries; in 1522Erasmus wrote: "O happy Burgundy which merits being called the mother of men since she furnishes from her mammaries such a good milk"[24] This was echoed byShakespeare, who refers inKing Lear to "the vines of France and milk of Burgundy".
British wine criticJancis Robinson has stated that "price is an extremely unreliable guide" and "what a wine sells for often has more to do with advertising hype and marketing decisions than the quality contained in the bottle". WhileGrand Crus often command steep prices, village level wines from top producers can be found at lower price points.
In 2010, the Burgundy region experienced a notable increase in internet coverage thanks to official efforts like the online broadcast of the famousHospices de Beaune,[25] as well as the efforts of independent wine aficionados, such asBourgogne Live.[26][27] Some burgundies are also increasingly valued asinvestment wines.
Fans of Burgundy wine have been organizing events celebrating its virtues for decades. The most famous of these isLa Paulée de Meursault.
Chambertin and Clos de Bèze have established their positions at the top of the grand cru hierarchy, but: What of the satellite grand crus?
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