3.2 Burgundy Cote d'Or, Cote Chalonnaise, Maconnaise

Question 1

Where is Burgundy, and relatively where is Chablis?

Answer 1

Burgundy

• is a narrow strip of land, north/south in direction
• between Dijon and Macon, about 130 km
• approximately 46-47 N longitude

Chablis is 110km NW of Dijon - makes it cooler than Burgundy.

Question 2

What is the climate of Cote d’Or, Cote Chalonnais, Macconais?

and what are the hazards?

Answer 2

Climate

Cote d’Or

• Cool Continental – cold winters and warm summers
• Suits early ripening PN & CH
• 700mm of rainfall can threaten harvest
• Morvan hills to the west protect from rainfall
• Vintage variation due to variability of weather yony
• Aspect, altitude, degree of slope, soil affects quality
  
  • ripe fruit esp PN tannins priority in this area

Maconnais

• The Maconnais is slightly drier & warmer than Cote d’Or

Hazards:

• Spring frost - after budburst - agg by climate change & CH&PN early budding
• Hail - (risk differs per timing)
  
  • damage to early growth / total loss of crop
  • later damage to berries which must be removed in case of rot (sorting tables critical to allev this)
  • From June 2018 limited netting allowed
  • most common prevention is shooting silver iodide into the clouds away from the VY
  • as it is localised, hail can badly affect winemaking and commerce . Volnay, Pommard notably affected 2012-2015
• Rain - timing!
  
  • spring - flowering, fruit set reduces yields/uneven ripening
  • growing season - fungal disease
  • harvest - dilution / rot
• Drought stress (climate change)
  
  • irrigation not allowed
  • recent vintages - shrivelled berries/vines shut down
  • VY with clay cope better

Question 3

The topography of Cote d’Or, Chalonnaise, Maconnais

Answer 3

Topography

• Topography is a key factor in determining the quality outcome
• Cote d’Or lies on a N-S orientated range
  
  • Main ridge faces East BUT
  • Side valleys running EW - provide SE or S aspects
  • Slopes altitude 200 to 400 m
  • The best vineyards are:
    
    • Mid slope (Best)
      
      • Well drained shallow soils
      • Good sunlight interception
      • Comparative frost protection
      • Better ripening potential due to central location (fruit concentration)
    • Top of slope are:
      
      • poor thin soils
      • exposed to cooling winds
    • Bottom of slope :
      
      • Subject to frost risk
      • Deeper soils, vigour, low concentr fruit
    • Coolest sites are planted to Aligote/ Cremant de Bourgogne
• Cote Chalonnaise - more varied than CdeO:
  
  • Best south east slopes of Chalonnaise are in Bouzeron and Rully
• Maconnais more varied than CdeO
  
  • Pouilly-Fuisse on the slopes
  • good quality dry Chardonnay.
  • Best Pouilly-Fuisse vineyards are being considered for Premier Cru status to recog their sup Q

Question 4

What are the important factors in vineyard slope on the Cote d’Or?

Answer 4

Importance of vineyard/site slope:

• exposure
• drainage
• soil depth
• heat retention
• & mineral content
• Altitude:
• Mid-slope ideal 250m (forms a sun trap) = most 1ers & grands crus.
• Higher-> harsher climate & slow ripening.
• Lower: alluvial soils with valley mists + frost.

Question 5

The best Cote d’Or vineyards are on slopes, what geophysical feature provides these slopes?

Answer 5

The east side of the Massif Central, provides east and south east facing slopes

Question 6

The soils of Cote d’Or, Cote Chalonnaise and Maconnais

Answer 6

SOILS

• Mainly composed of limestone and clay, proportions vary
• Cote de Nuits
  
  • high levels of limestone in soil
  • best sites for Pinot Noir
• Cote de Beaune
  
  • More clay in the soils and they are deeper
  • Best sites for Chardonnay
• Chalonnaise and Maconnais have a mixture of limestone and clay
• Depth of soil to bedrock:
  
  • Varies greatly, erosion moves soil down slope
  • Thin soils at the top – low vigour, vines struggle to thrive
  • Deeper at the bottom – fertle>high vigour >shade> less ripeness

Question 7

What 4 components make up the soils of Burgundy?

Answer 7

Chablis:

• Petit: Portlandian - hard limestone, less clay
• Chablis/Pr / Gr Cru : Kimmeridgian soils (excellent drainage, and water retention)

Cote de’Or

• Calcareous and clay: white wine (Montrachet) – Chardonnay
• Limestone and marl: red wine (Chambertin) – Pinot Noir

Question 8

Chardonnay

Answer 8

Chardonnay

• Versatile and adaptive to range of climates, soils
• Buds early and ripens early
• Rel high yields without loss of quality
• Susc/prone to:
  
  • spring frost, grey rot, powdery mildew, millerandage and grapevine yellows
• Top quality in limestone/clay soils
• Burgundy (cool clim Chablis) flavours
  
  • apple, pear, lemon, lime, wet stones, mineral
  • l/m body, h acid,
• Burgundy & other (mod clim Cote d’Or)
  
  • ripe citrus, melon, stone fr,
  • m/m+ body, m+/h acid
• Main challenge is vigour mgmt, avoid excessive yield/shading that affects ripening

Question 9

Pinot Noir

Answer 9

Pinot Noir

• Buds early and ripens early
• Yields must be reduced in order to produce top quality
• thin skins
• Delicate prone/susc to
  
  • Millerandage
  • D & P MD
  • BBR
  • Fan leaf and leaf roll viruses
  • In warm climates can ripen too fast, berries shrivel / sunburn)
  • Main issue in Burgundy is getting sufficient ripeness
• Clone Usage
  
  • In Burgundy Dijon clone families, dev by University of Burgundy, regarded as the best for quality PN
  • Producers decide
    
    • plant a variety of clones (diff yield/disease tol/ripening speed/fruit char) - leads to diversity
    • or go for uniform profile and plant a single clone
    • a no. of prod propagate own vines via selection massale
• Typical profile
  
  • strawberry, raspberry, red cherry
  • Higher Q: light oak flavours(smoke, clove)
  • l/m tannin (Gr Cru m+) m alc, hi acid.
  • Dev earth, game, mushroom notes in bottle

Question 10

Aligote?

Answer 10

Aligoté 5%

• Less replanted post-phylloxera in favour of Chardonnay
• Mostly thin, high-acid wines
• For Bourgogne Aligoté & Crémant
• Bouzeron makes the best examples

Question 11

What are the Vy management methods used in Burgundy?

Answer 11

Pruning/training method

• Cordon de Royat
  
  • limits yields by limiting vigour
  • old wood might harbour disease, producers moving away from it.
• Guyot (replacement cane prune, with VSP)
  
  • was traditionally used, prod now returning to this
• Poussard-Guyot’
  
  • more gentle than Guyot - requires less cuts and hence lowers risk of trunk diseases like Esca
  • requires more skilled VY workers

Planting

• 8 - 10000 v/ha (some have higher)
• Density>competition for resource>better Q fruit

Yield Mgmt

• Debudding
  
  • Promotes balance, but
  • i done early in season - later hail/rot may significantly impact final yield
• Green harvesting
  
  • assess bunches before sacrificing before veraisson
  • takes account of weather before acting
  • vine may respond with excessive growth in remaining bunches and dilution
• *Maximum yields**
• (high variation of quality - rules for ind appellations can reflect local conditions)*
• regional appellations R 69 hl/ha W 75 hl/ha
• village R 40 - 45 hl/ha W 45 - 47 hl/ha
• some GR Crus R 35 hl/ha W 40 hl/ha

Organic/Biodynamic becoming more popular

• challenging in the climate of Burgundy
• causes grower aggro as VY are small/shared and some practices need a min area, to be successfully implemented

Disease/hazard management

• grape moths - pheremones
• Fungal disease - spray & can mgmt
• Trunk disease (Esca etc) serious issue

Harvest

• Critical - given the marginal climate/likelihood of storms
• Early? - better acidity, risk unripe fruit
• Later? - softer wine, but higher weather risk
• Majority hand-picked - availability of workforce is major consideration

Question 12

White wine making in Burgundy? Explain the process and its variations.

Answer 12

• Acidification or de-acidification is permitted (rare)
• Chaptalisation if must has insuff sugar to reach min alc
  
  • allowed 1.5 - 2% pot alc abv
• Sorting
• Pressing
  
  • Whole bunch pressed (with stem) (hand picked)
  • Normally no skin contact
• Clarification:
  
  • HiQ - sedimentation
  • Inexp/mid - quicker - flotation or centrifuging
• Hyperoxidation – so the final wine is not susceptible to premature oxidation (premox)
• Fermentation:
  
  • Ambient yeast
    
    • cultured yeast for large vol regional wines
  • Inexpensive/mid-priced wines
    
    • stainless steel/concrete vessels/large oak vats
    • temperature 16-18 degC - preserve fruit aroma
    • avoids banana flav from low temp ferm
    • aged in same vessels or in older barrels
  • Expensive wines
    
    • Typically ferment + age in barrel > creamier and rounder style
    • Temp 16-20 degrees
• Malo C
  
  • normal practice, but blocked if a fresher style is desired
• Maturation
  
  • 8-12 months in barrel with fine lees, battonage for texture, reduce reductive flav
  • use of New oak
    
    • Regional level wines – see little new oak
    • Village level – 20-25% is common
    • Premier Cru – 30-50% is common
    • Grand Cru – 50% + and sometimes 100%
  • 228 litre Burgundy barrel (a “piece” is the standard
  • 500-600 litre barrels are used by some producers
  • Stirring on lees (batonnage) may be carried out – reduces the reductive characters and adds creamier texture
• Filter
  
  • white more often than red> cloudiness visible to customer

Question 13

Cold soaking is commonly used for Pinot Noir in Burgundy - explain the technique and what it is done for

Answer 13

• Cold soaking (below 10 degrees, for 3 - 7 days (course notes states “few”) and maybe sulphured to stop oxidation and prevent the primary ferment kicking off
  
  • Pinot Noir is low in anthocyanins
  • So cold soaking is carried out to extract colour
  • Plus it aids in picking up some more aromatics from the fruit

Internet:

Cold soaking is often a way to increase the contact time of wine in an aqueous phase, as opposed to extended maceration which results in more contact time in an ethanol-rich phase. Cold soaking extracts anthocyanin and skin tannin, but not much seed tannin (since efficient seed tannin extraction requires ethanol)

Question 14

Red winemaking (PN) in Burgundy? Explain the process and its variations.

Answer 14

• Pinot Noir - delicate/aromatic/light tannin> vinify carefully!
  
  • Maintaining primary fruit is key
  • Not overwhelming with oak flavours
• Sorting
  
  • common for all but the least exp.
• Whole bunch fermentation - all or portion -depends on vintage & VY
  
  • aids aeration, intro perfume, freshness and fine tannin
  • Except: Unripe stems can introduce green astringent tannins to the wine
  • Alt - some destem, following trend of Henri Jayer
• Cold soaking
  
  • ​ (below 10 degrees, for few days, and maybe sulphured to stop oxidation and prevent the primary ferment kicking off
    
    • Pinot Noir is low in anthocyanins - this extracts more colour
• Fermentation
  
  • Small open topped vessels
  • Pump over – remontage/punch down – pigeage to:
    
    • intro oxygen - nb for yeast metabolism
    • Avoid prod of reductive sulfur compounds (PN prone to reduction)
    • Avoid prod acetic acid
    • Assist colour, tannin and flavour extraction
    • Regulate must temp at ~ 30ºC
• Post fermentation maceration
  
  • depends on ripeness of fruit and wine style
  • 2-3 weeks - for concentration and structure
• Pressing
  
  • pneumatic or basket press (gentle)
  • Free run /press wine vinified sep, poss blended before bottling
  • Racked into oak barrels 228l
• Maturation
  
  • Less expensive – less than one year
  • Premium to super premium – 12 to 20 months
  • Portion of new oak varies but generally higher in Premier Cru and Grand Cru
  • Many varying opinions on new oak and oak maturation
• MaloC
  
  • Is normally spontaneous in Spring
• Filtration
  
  • Less expensive wines are fined and lightly filtered
  • HiQ may not be

Question 15

Cote D’Or has classifcation from regional AOCs to the Grand Cru level - provide details on naming

Answer 15

4-tier Hierarchy Cote d’Or

• 7 regional or generic appellations (52% of vol prod)
• normally a geog area*​​
  
  • Bourgogne AOC,
  • Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Beaune AOC,
  • Bougogne Cote d’Or AOC (intro 2017)
  • Bourgogne Chitry AOC (where Chitry is a village)
• 44 commune /village appellations (47% tog with the prem crus)
  
  • Meursault AOC,
  • Gevery-Chambertine AOC
• premier cru >
• normally featured only together with a village appell. if wine is from more than 1 PC then neither on the lable - only the village*
  
  • Pomard Premier Cru Les Rugiens AOC,
  • Vosne Romanee Premier Cru Aux Malconsorts AOC
• 33 grand cru > 1% Vol
• are appellations in themselves only Gr Cru name on label*
  
  • Richebourg Grand Cru AOC,
  • Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru AOC
• *

Question 16

What does the classification tell you about vineyard location

Answer 16

In general the classification reflects VY location incl position on slope

….so from the top of the mountain and down……

• “Hautes Cotes de Nuits AOC”, “Hautes Cotes de Beaune AOC”
  
  • Flat land beyond the top of the slope
  • (exposed to weather, poor sunlight intercept, rich soil) - low conc grapes, may struggle to ripen
• Grand Crus
  
  • Found mid-slope with pr crus surrounding (above/below)
    
    • Full ripeness can be achieved even in cool years
    • poor but adeq drainage, protection from weather sys, good sunlight interception
    • contributes to concentration, balance, length.
• Village or Communal AOCs
  
  • Typically around lowest part of slope
    
    • Soils richer, less well drained
    • Fruit does not reach same level of ripeness
    • Still produces wines of very good quality/char
• “Bourgogne AOC”
  
  • Flat land at the bottom of the slope.

Question 17

Principle appellations of the Cote de Nuits?

Answer 17

• Mostly red, a small amount of white
• Hyphenated name of the villages (commune) celebrate the grand cru vineyard connected to the village.
• Most nb villages from north to south:
• Gevrey-Chambertin AOC - (R)
  
  • Charmes-Chambertin AOC
  • Chambertin Clos-de-Beze AOC
• Morey-St-Denis (Mostly R)
  
  • Clos de Tart AOC
  • Clos de la Roche AOC
• Chambolle-Musigny AOC (R&W - only red for village)
  
  • Bonnes Mares AOC
  • Le Musigny AOC
• Vougeot AOC (R&W)
  
  • Clos de Vougeot AOC - this GCru larger than the village app
• Vosne-Romanee AOC (R)
  
  • Romanee-Conti AOC
  • La Tache AOC
  • La Romanee AOC
• Nuits-Saint-George AOC (mostly R)
  
  • No GCru, but nb PCru
  • Les Saint-Georges
  • Les Vaucrains

Notable other villages

• Marsannay - red, rose
  
  • Rose mostly -
    
    • northern location ~ cooler.
• Fixin - mainly red
  
  • Cooler ~ light body reds

Question 18

Describe the principal appellations in Cote de Beaune

Answer 18

• Most NB for white wine,
• Red wine is made there is 1 Gr Cru for red:
• Most NB Villages N - S
• Aloxe-Corton AOC/ Pernand-Vergelesses AOC; Ladoix-Serrigny AOC
  
  • Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru AOC (W)
  • Corton Grand Cru AOC
    
    • has many lieux-dits
    • mostly planted with PN, but can produce CH
• Beaune AOC (mostly red, but white also made) PR Crus:
  
  • Le Clos des Mouches;
  • Les Greves
• ​Pommard AOC (R only) PR Crus:
  
  • Les Rugiens
  • Clos des Epeneaux
• Volnay AOC (Red only) Pr Crus:
  
  • Clos des Chenes
  • Les Caillerets
• Meursault AOC (W only) Pr Crus:
  
  • Perrieres (example “Meursault Perrieres AOC”)
  • Genevrieres
• Puligny-Montrachet AOC (W) and Chassagne-Montrachet AOC (R&W)
  
  • Le Montrachet AOC (W)
  • Batard-Montrachet AOC (W)
• St Aubin AOC (W) Pr Crus:
  
  • Sur le Sentier du Clou
  • En Remilly
• Other important village appellations
  
  • St Romain AOC (W)
  • Auxey-Duresses AOC (mostly red)
  • Santenay AOC (mainly red)

Question 19

Name the key appellations of Cote Chalonnaise and what they are known for?

Answer 19

• Cote Chalonnaise - “Bougogne Cote Chalonnaise” - often labelled “Bourgogne AOC”
  
  • more red than white wine produced
  • good value wines frequently labelled
    
    • Bourgogne AOC or
    • Bourgogne Cote Chalonnaise AOC
  • Village and Premier Cru but no Grand Cru
  • Premier Crus :
    
    • on S / SE / E facing slopes -sunlight
    • Well drained limestone soils: riper, hi Q fruit
• Key Villages
  
  • Bouzeron AOC (W):
    
    • Must be 100% Aligote grapes
    • finest region for the 2nd white grape of Burgundy
  • Rully AOC (more W than R); pr crus for both:
    
    • over 25% Premier cru level
    • important producer of grapes for Cremant de Bourgogne
  • Mercurey AOC (much more R than W):
    
    • Largest producer of communal appellation wines
    • ~25% of vineyards are classified Premier Cru
  • Givry AOC (mostly R):
    
    • over 40% Premier Cru vineyards
  • Montagny AOC (W only)
    
    • ~2/3 Premier Cru

Question 20

What are the key details and AOCs of Maconnais?

Answer 20

Maconnais Hierarchy

• Macon AOC
• Macon-Villages AOC
• Macon-Villages + named village AOC
  
  • Macon Verze AOC
• Named village appellations
  
  • e.g. Pouilly Fuisse AOC
• Mostly white, inexpensive wines – labelled Bourgogne AOC
• In order of increasing quality:
• Mâcon AOC
  
  • Mainly red/rose wines, small amount of white
• ​Mâcon-Villages or Mâcon + village name (Macon-Lugny)
  
  • white only
  • 43 villages, important: Lugny
• Named village appellation
  
  • Pouilly-Fuissé AOC
    
    • Sun trap location – Amphitheatre
    • Planted on limestone slopes of Roche de Solutre (east and south east exposure)
    • Very ripe tropical stone fruits, paired with oak
    • The Maconnais is in final stages of formalising pr cru status for best sites in villages like Pouilly-Fuisse
  • Viré-Clessé AOC
  • Saint-Véran AOC
  • Pouilly-Vinzelle AOC
  • Pouilly-Loché AOC

Question 21

What is the breakdown of the business units in Burgundy?

Answer 21

Growers

• Business with VY holdings, sell grapes or unfinished wine to negociants.
• Several thousand, typically holdings divided in different villages and vineyards

Domaines:

• businesses that own vineyards and make wine from them, sell under own domaine label

Negociants:

• typically large businesses, buy grapes or wine, finish, bottle, sell under own label

Micro-negociants

• smaller businesses buy grapes from very good to top quality vineyards, make the wines and sell under their own names
• eg Benjamin Leroux

Cooperatives:

• less important in Cote d’Or
• more dominant in Chablis (La Chablisienne – 25%)
• Maconnais (Cave de Lugny)
• Lesser extent in Cote Chalonnaise

Question 22

What business factors contribute to style, quality, price of wines in Burgundy

Answer 22

Who is in the market?

• Historically much trade through negociants who would buy grapes/must/wine.
  
  • REcently a move towards domaine bottling, and domaines acting as negociants (Dujac)
    
    • wine from own VY “Domaine Dujace”
    • wine from purchased fruit or wine “Dujac Fils et Pere”
  • Fragmented ownership requires detailed knowledge to identify the source of a wine

Leading to significant rise in quality:

• younger winemakers, technically skilled, travelled, and thus more open-minded about winemaking

Drivers of price:

• domaine, appellation, vineyard name
  
  • a village wine from a well known domaine can fetch a higher price than a premier cru from same village but less well known producer (reputation and market identity is significant)
• Style Differences by Village
  
  • Volnay - elegance, intensely perfumed
  • Pommard - robust and tannic
• Reputation for a particular stylistic feature especially from Gr Cru or Pr Cru single vineyards e.g.
  
  • Meursault Perrieres - steely concentration
  • Meursault Charmes - full body and approachable
• High land prices due to relative scarcity & because of reputation of sought after vy names
  
  • foreing buyers add pressure to land prices
• increased demand for the small production (dramatic diff in vintage due to weather hazard
  
  • compared to Bordeaux:
    
    • Burgundy vol = 1/4 of Bordeaux
    • similarly Domaine de la Romanee-Conti (Burgundy’s most sought after wine) produces 1/4 vol compared to Chateau Lafite Rothschild’s Grand Vin in Bordeaux
• increased interest for 2ndry market trading of the most exp Burgundy: (Livex index shows Burg price increased 200% 2003 - 2016)
• all lead to substantial price increases since mid 2000’s

Route to market:

• cellar door to consumer
• negociant/cooperative to distribution chain
• En primeur
• Hospitality
• speciliast wine shops
• supermarkets
• Export 50%: USA; UK; Japan largest by value

Question 23

8 e.g.s of Cote de Beaune Villages

Answer 23

• Aloxe-Corton AOC
  
  • Corton AOC
  • Corton Charlemagne AOC
• Beaune AOC
  
  • PC Clos des Mouches
  • PC Les Greves
• Pommard AOC
  
  • PC Les Rugiens
  • PC Clos des Epenaux
• Volnay AOC
  
  • PC Les Caillerets AOC
  • PC Clos des Chenes
• Meursault AOC
  
  • PC Genevrieres AOC
  • PC Perrieres AOC
• Puligny-Montrachet AOC
  
  • Le Montrachet Grand Cru AOC
  • Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru AOC
  • Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru AOC
• Chassagne-Montrachet AOC
• St Aubin AOC
  
  • PC Sur le Sentier du Clou
  • PC En Remilly

Question 24

5 Grands Crus of Cote de Beaune

Answer 24

• Corton Grand Cru AOC
• Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru AOC
• Le Montrachet Grand Cru AOC
• Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru AOC
• Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru AOC

Question 25

How many Grands Crus are there in Burgundy?

How many Premiers Crus?

Answer 25

32 Grands Crus in the Cote d’Or

1 Grand Cru with 7 climats (VY) in Chablis

640 Premiers Crus across Burgundy (40 of these in Chablis)

Question 26

Domaine de la Romanee Conti is associated with which wine/vineyard area?

Answer 26

Burgundy/Cote de Nuits/Vosne-Romanee

Question 27

In Appelation hierarchy Gevrey Chambertin AOC is an example of a what?

Answer 27

Commune / Village wine

Question 28

5 main villages of the Cote Chalonnaise and the kinds of wine(s) they produce:

Answer 28

Bouzeron - Whites ONLY from Aligoté

Rully - Mostly White 25% pc; C de B - important

Mercurey - Mostly Red 25% pc; largest

Givry - Mostly Red 40% pc

Montagny - White ONLY~60% pc

Question 29

Meursault AOP may produce red and white wine.

True or False?

Answer 29

False

White wines only

Question 30

Which communes in Cote Chalonnaise only produces white wine?

Answer 30

Montagny and Bouzeron

Question 31

What is the primary grape for the following appellations?

• Meursault
• Pommard
• Volnay
• Morgon
• Bouzeron
• Gevrey-Chambertin
• Musigny

Answer 31

• Meursault: Chardonnay
• Pommard: Pinot Noir
• Volnay: Pinot Noir
• Morgon: Gamay
• Bouzeron: Aligoté
• Gevrey-Chambertin: Pinot Noir
• Musigny: Pinot Noir / Chardonnay

Question 32

Mercurey is associated with which wine/vineyard area?

Answer 32

Cote Chalonnaise - most PN