Old world wine classifications can be confusing at times. In this series, I will simplify the classification of Wines from Burgundy for easy understanding. In Part 1 we will discuss classification in Côte d'Or; on of the most prominent wine making regions in the world.
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Everyone loves to drink wine, what is disliked is the study and understanding the wine classifications in different parts of the world. France takes it a notch higher as different regions within the country classify their wine differently. Understanding this classification will help you in reading and understanding what is written on a wine label.
Moving ahead, we will try to break down understand and simplify one such tricky classification.
Grapes: Almost all Burgundy red wines are made from Pinot Noir and all white wines are made of Chardonnay. They are so distinctive that they don’t find a match in flavors in any other part of the world. Other grapes grown are Aligoté, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc in white and Gamay in Red; these grapes produce a very miniscule amount of wines.
Côte d'Or Sub Regions: The Côte d’Or appellation extend across an area 65km long and between 1-2km wide. Geographically speaking, the Côte d’Or (golden slope) covers the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits.
The Côte de Nuits and Hautes Côtes; mainly produce red wines. A paradise for Pinot Noir, which is used for the majority of the Bourgogne region’s Grands Crus. White wines, made from the Chardonnay grape, are fewer here and some from Aligoté.
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Côte de Beaune and the Hautes Côtes de Beaune; a great mix of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in this area. Around the town of Beaune the vineyards are mainly planted with Pinot Noir (Volnay, Pommard, Ladoix, etc.), although the Chardonnay grape produces a few marvels on the Corton hill (Corton, Corton-Charlemagne). It is from, Meursault onwards where Chardonnay dominates.
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The wines from these regions are classified into following levels; we will moving from the basic less expensive to the sophisticated most expensive wines of Burgundy:
· Bourgogne Rouge and Bourgogne Blanc- In simple English, its Burgundy Red and White. These are basic level wines which are made from blend of grapes grown in different plots, vineyard and villages of Burgundy. These wines lack the expression of specific terroir as they are blended. These entry level wines constitute around 52 percent of total wine production.
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· Village Wines- These wines are made from grapes grown in different vineyards of one village. These wines fetch a higher price than entry level wines as they come from a more defined place. There are 44 winemaking villages in Burgundy, producing about 35 percent of total wine production. These wines carry the name of the village- Puligny-Montrachet, Chambolle-Musigny, Gevrey-Chambertin etc; on their label.
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· Premier Cru- 1861 saw the classification of the smallest units, the vineyards. The best vineyards throughout Burgundy were classified as Premier Cru (1er Cru) or a higher level as Grand Cru. These are special wine from 585 selected Premier Cru Vineyards and fetch a very high price. They constitute around 10 percent of total wines produced. These wines carry the name of the vineyard along with the village names like- Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Les Folatires”, Chambolle-Musigny “Aux Echanges”, Gevrey-Chambertin “Champonnet” etc.
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· Grand Cru- It is the highest classification that can be received by any vineyard in Burgundy. These wines are the best in terms of quality and are the most expensive wines in Burgundy and always rank in Top wines in the World. There are 33 Grand Crus in Burgundy; 32 in Cote d Or and 1 in Chablis, accounting around 2% of total production. These vineyards are so well recognized that only their name would be present on the labels with the words Grand Cru and without the names of their respective villages.
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The Grand Cru Vineyards of Burgundy.
Remembering these names is said to be a big deal, but before doing this it’s very important that one understands the classification. The village names are inside the bracket, some of the vineyards are shared by few villages as mentioned.
1) CHABLIS GRAND CRU (Chablis)
2) CHAMBERTIN CLOS-DE-BÈZE (Gevrey-Chambertin)
3) CHAPELLE-CHAMBERTIN (Gevrey-Chambertin)
4) CHARMES-CHAMBERTIN (Gevrey-Chambertin)
5) GRIOTTE-CHAMBERTIN (Gevrey-Chambertin)
6) LATRICIÈRES-CHAMBERTIN (Gevrey-Chambertin)
7) LE CHAMBERTIN (Gevrey-Chambertin)
8) MAZIS-CHAMBERTIN (Gevrey-Chambertin)
9) MAZOYÈRES-CHAMBERTIN (Gevrey-Chambertin)
10) RUCHOTTES-CHAMBERTIN (Gevrey-Chambertin)
11) BONNES MARES (part in Morey-St.-Denis; part in Chambolle-Musigny)
12) CLOS DE LA ROCHE (Morey-St.-Denis)
13) CLOS DES LAMBRAYS (Morey-St.-Denis)
14) CLOS DE TART (Morey-St.-Denis)
15) CLOS ST.-DENIS (Morey-St.-Denis)
16) LE MUSIGNY (Chambolle-Musigny)
17) CLOS DE VOUGEOT (Vougeot)
18) ECHÉZEAUX (Vosne-Romanée)
19) GRANDS ECHÉZEAUX (Vosne-Romanée)
20) LA ROMANÉE (Vosne-Romanée)
21) LA TÂCHE (Vosne-Romanée)
22) LA GRANDE RUE (Vosne-Romanée)
23) RICHEBOURG (Vosne-Romanée)
24) ROMANÉE-CONTI (Vosne-Romanée)
25) ROMANÉE-ST.-VIVANT (Vosne-Romanée)
26) CHARLEMAGNE (Aloxe-Corton)
27) CORTON-CHARLEMAGNE (part in Pernand-Vergelesses; part in Aloxe-Corton; part in Ladoix-Serrigny)
28) LE CORTON (part in Pernand-Vergelesses; part in Aloxe-Corton; part in Ladoix- Serrigny)
29) BÂTARD-MONTRACHET (part in Puligny-Montrachet; part in Chassagne-Montrachet)
30) BIENVENUES-BÂTARD-MONTRACHET (Puligny-Montrachet)
31) CHEVALIER-MONTRACHET (Puligny-Montrachet)
32) LE MONTRACHET (part in Puligny-Montrachet; part in Chassagne-Montrachet)
33) CRIOTS-BÂTARD-MONTRACHET (Chassagne-Montrachet)
Please Note
1) Even the tiniest of vineyards can have more than one owner, so you may find 1 Grand Cru wine with the name of two or more winemakers or land owners. The most popular example will be Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru vineyard (125 acres), it has 80 owners or land holders and each of them release a wine with the name of Clos de Vougeot.
2) There are a very few vineyards with single owners and are hence called, monopoles. Examples- Romanee Conti, La Tache etc.
3) One grower may own different parcels of vineyards of same or different grapes. These are bottled separately and mostly never blended.
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