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Introduction to Burgundy
October 2008
Today we will only scratch the surface of Burgundy, looking
at the classifications, labelling and production of wines in
the Cote D’Or. Officially Burgundy has six constituent parts
– Chablis, The Cote de Beaune, The Cote de Nuits, The
Cote Chalonnaise, The Maconnais and Beaujolais.
A rich labyrinth of wine beginning a one and a half hour drive
south east of Paris and ending some 300 miles south near
Lyon.
The official EU definition of wine is ‘the product obtained
from the total or partial fermentation of fresh grapes,
whether or not crushed, or from grape must’
Fermentation refers to the natural process whereby yeast
reacts with sugar to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. In
Champagne for example, there is a contrived second
fermentation inside the bottle, which locks in the naturally
produced carbon dioxide, resulting in the bubbles in the
finished product.
The ‘whether or not crushed’ aspect of the definition is
relevant to Burgundy as this implicitly refers to the
Beaujolais Method or Carbonic Maceration technique of
production.
Grape must is the combination of juice and pomace, the
pomace is the pulp of skins, seeds and stems resulting
from crushing the harvested grapes. The mixture will, for
example, rest as a must in the early stages of the
production of fine red wines.
France has always been very particular about controlling,
managing and protecting quality amongst her agricultural
produce. The first instance of government intervention was
the demarcation of Roquefort Cheese as being from a
particular area, made in a particular way using only ewe’s
milk.
Over the last two hundred years, France has focused this
attention on her wine, making official demarcations of
quality – principally through the ministry of agriculture. This
includes the appellation d’origine controlee award (which
will be referred to as AC) that marks out wines of a certain
quality. The idea is to also protect and guide the
consumer. With wine this can be complicated – all other
things being equal, the quality of a wine produced from one
terroir can vary significantly from that of an immediate
neighbour.
In this case terroir refers not just to the earth – meaning
soils – but the incline of the vineyard, the facing direction,
the wind, the climate and so on. Compared to Burgundy,
nowhere else on earth is the terroir so studied and so
complicated. The AC awards also dictate the maximum
yield – generally speaking the higher the yield the lower
quality of the resulting wine. The sum of these matters has
lead to the creation of nearly 100 ACs in Burgundy.
Further, wines are classified in three main levels of general
quality – Grand Cru (the best), Premier Cru (next best) and
then Village wine.
To try and clarify by example, in the very heart of Burgundy
there are two small villages - the AC Puligny Montrachet
refers to the level of quality expected of the village wine,
likewise the neighbouring small village AC of Chassagne
Montrachet. Both very good white (Chardonnay) Burgundies
starting at around £20 and £15 a bottle respectively.
Both can be identified from seeing the name of the village
as the headline on the label and the AC of the village written
underneath.
However there is a Grand Cru vineyard called Chevalier
Montrachet that lies within and spanning the two villages.
This has Chevalier Montrachet headlined on the label and
the AC Chevalier Montrachet underneath. This wine is one
of the best white wines in the world and starts at around
£200 a bottle, steeply moving upwards depending upon
producer and vintage.
d. The richness of choice and diversity of wine is also
exciting and rewarding. However, forewarned is forearmed.
October 2008
Today we will only scratch the surface of Burgundy, looking
at the classifications, labelling and production of wines in
the Cote D’Or. Officially Burgundy has six constituent parts
– Chablis, The Cote de Beaune, The Cote de Nuits, The
Cote Chalonnaise, The Maconnais and Beaujolais.
A rich labyrinth of wine beginning a one and a half hour drive
south east of Paris and ending some 300 miles south near
Lyon.
The official EU definition of wine is ‘the product obtained
from the total or partial fermentation of fresh grapes,
whether or not crushed, or from grape must’
Fermentation refers to the natural process whereby yeast
reacts with sugar to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. In
Champagne for example, there is a contrived second
fermentation inside the bottle, which locks in the naturally
produced carbon dioxide, resulting in the bubbles in the
finished product.
The ‘whether or not crushed’ aspect of the definition is
relevant to Burgundy as this implicitly refers to the
Beaujolais Method or Carbonic Maceration technique of
production.
Grape must is the combination of juice and pomace, the
pomace is the pulp of skins, seeds and stems resulting
from crushing the harvested grapes. The mixture will, for
example, rest as a must in the early stages of the
production of fine red wines.
France has always been very particular about controlling,
managing and protecting quality amongst her agricultural
produce. The first instance of government intervention was
the demarcation of Roquefort Cheese as being from a
particular area, made in a particular way using only ewe’s
milk.
Over the last two hundred years, France has focused this
attention on her wine, making official demarcations of
quality – principally through the ministry of agriculture. This
includes the appellation d’origine controlee award (which
will be referred to as AC) that marks out wines of a certain
quality. The idea is to also protect and guide the
consumer. With wine this can be complicated – all other
things being equal, the quality of a wine produced from one
terroir can vary significantly from that of an immediate
neighbour.
In this case terroir refers not just to the earth – meaning
soils – but the incline of the vineyard, the facing direction,
the wind, the climate and so on. Compared to Burgundy,
nowhere else on earth is the terroir so studied and so
complicated. The AC awards also dictate the maximum
yield – generally speaking the higher the yield the lower
quality of the resulting wine. The sum of these matters has
lead to the creation of nearly 100 ACs in Burgundy.
Further, wines are classified in three main levels of general
quality – Grand Cru (the best), Premier Cru (next best) and
then Village wine.
To try and clarify by example, in the very heart of Burgundy
there are two small villages - the AC Puligny Montrachet
refers to the level of quality expected of the village wine,
likewise the neighbouring small village AC of Chassagne
Montrachet. Both very good white (Chardonnay) Burgundies
starting at around £20 and £15 a bottle respectively.
Both can be identified from seeing the name of the village
as the headline on the label and the AC of the village written
underneath.
However there is a Grand Cru vineyard called Chevalier
Montrachet that lies within and spanning the two villages.
This has Chevalier Montrachet headlined on the label and
the AC Chevalier Montrachet underneath. This wine is one
of the best white wines in the world and starts at around
£200 a bottle, steeply moving upwards depending upon
producer and vintage.
d. The richness of choice and diversity of wine is also
exciting and rewarding. However, forewarned is forearmed.
So two new variables – producer and vintage.
The vintage refers to the year the wine was made, every year
is a vintage (as opposed to Champagne where a vintage is
declared only for those years meeting quality criteria) with
some years being recognised by experts as being better
than others.
Vintage charts for burgundy that mark the quality out of ten
can be found on various websites, finediningguide
recommend www.bbr.com.
Unfortunately because the Cote de Beaune and Cote de
Nuits (collectively the Cote D’Dor) of Burgundy are so
delicate plus the fact that two grapes – pinot noir for reds
and chardonnay for whites - are packed into such as small
(30 miles) North to South running area a general vintage
qualification can be difficult and occasionally less than
helpful to the consumer.
And what of producers? These are the names written on the
bottles as Domaine or Negociant Eleveur. These are very
important in selecting a wine and there are over 3000
producers in Burgundy. After all “it is the man who makes
the wine” – should Gordon Ramsay be given Michelin Three
Star raw ingredients he is likely to prepare, conceive and
execute a Michelin Three Star dish, not just once but for
every customer consistently.
Give the same raw ingredients to a chef down the road and
you won’t get the same results. Likewise the wine you drink
from burgundy varies in character and quality by producer.
Remember in restaurant terminology, Burgundy wine is the
other way around, it is the ingredients that are given the
Michelin Stars not the chefs.
Most of those exported are largely reliable familiar names –
such as Louis Latour, Leflaive or Joseph Drouhin. The
Gordon Ramsay of burgundy producers is Domaine de la
Romanee Conti. Naturally this is reflected in the price
where the price per case can vary by as much as a factor of
ten depending upon the producer, regardless of the AC of
the wine.
So to go back to one of our two neighbouring AC villages. A
village wine with Puligny Montrachet written on the label with
the AC Puligny Montrachet written underneath will have, in
varying sizes of print, Negociant Eleveur or Domaine written
on front or back. There may be twenty different producers of
this village wine making something slightly different from
each other.
To understand how this has come about, one has to
examine some history and comparisons to other regions
may help. After the fall of the Roman Empire Burgundy wine
was in the hands of Catholic Monks. Come the French
Revolution, the early nineteenth century Napoleonic
Inheritance Laws confiscated the wine from the Roman
Catholic Church and put it in the hands of those who were
tending the vineyards.
Through generations plots of land have been handed down
in tiny parcels – parcels not big enough to produce wine
independently. So in come independent producers who buy
the output from a number of plots each year to make, bottle
and export the wine.
For contrast, should you look at the medoc for example,
Chateau Latour is a first growth Grand Cru. A wonderful
wine. The Chateau own all the grapes and produce all the
wine and so have a consistent understood standard. You
are just looking for the vintage for guidance. In this case,
the classification is with the chef and not the ingredients,
however the “chefs” were classified in 1855 and have not
been amended since.
This is for another discussion but things are never easy
with wine. Were Bordeaux easy to understand then Robert
M Parker wouldn’t have been in a job for the last thirty years.
Without doubt the search for great wine at a great price in
Burgundy is a challenging and complicated one but one
well worth pursuing. Spectacular wines, both red and white,
can be found. However forewarned is forearmed!
The vintage refers to the year the wine was made, every year
is a vintage (as opposed to Champagne where a vintage is
declared only for those years meeting quality criteria) with
some years being recognised by experts as being better
than others.
Vintage charts for burgundy that mark the quality out of ten
can be found on various websites, finediningguide
recommend www.bbr.com.
Unfortunately because the Cote de Beaune and Cote de
Nuits (collectively the Cote D’Dor) of Burgundy are so
delicate plus the fact that two grapes – pinot noir for reds
and chardonnay for whites - are packed into such as small
(30 miles) North to South running area a general vintage
qualification can be difficult and occasionally less than
helpful to the consumer.
And what of producers? These are the names written on the
bottles as Domaine or Negociant Eleveur. These are very
important in selecting a wine and there are over 3000
producers in Burgundy. After all “it is the man who makes
the wine” – should Gordon Ramsay be given Michelin Three
Star raw ingredients he is likely to prepare, conceive and
execute a Michelin Three Star dish, not just once but for
every customer consistently.
Give the same raw ingredients to a chef down the road and
you won’t get the same results. Likewise the wine you drink
from burgundy varies in character and quality by producer.
Remember in restaurant terminology, Burgundy wine is the
other way around, it is the ingredients that are given the
Michelin Stars not the chefs.
Most of those exported are largely reliable familiar names –
such as Louis Latour, Leflaive or Joseph Drouhin. The
Gordon Ramsay of burgundy producers is Domaine de la
Romanee Conti. Naturally this is reflected in the price
where the price per case can vary by as much as a factor of
ten depending upon the producer, regardless of the AC of
the wine.
So to go back to one of our two neighbouring AC villages. A
village wine with Puligny Montrachet written on the label with
the AC Puligny Montrachet written underneath will have, in
varying sizes of print, Negociant Eleveur or Domaine written
on front or back. There may be twenty different producers of
this village wine making something slightly different from
each other.
To understand how this has come about, one has to
examine some history and comparisons to other regions
may help. After the fall of the Roman Empire Burgundy wine
was in the hands of Catholic Monks. Come the French
Revolution, the early nineteenth century Napoleonic
Inheritance Laws confiscated the wine from the Roman
Catholic Church and put it in the hands of those who were
tending the vineyards.
Through generations plots of land have been handed down
in tiny parcels – parcels not big enough to produce wine
independently. So in come independent producers who buy
the output from a number of plots each year to make, bottle
and export the wine.
For contrast, should you look at the medoc for example,
Chateau Latour is a first growth Grand Cru. A wonderful
wine. The Chateau own all the grapes and produce all the
wine and so have a consistent understood standard. You
are just looking for the vintage for guidance. In this case,
the classification is with the chef and not the ingredients,
however the “chefs” were classified in 1855 and have not
been amended since.
This is for another discussion but things are never easy
with wine. Were Bordeaux easy to understand then Robert
M Parker wouldn’t have been in a job for the last thirty years.
Without doubt the search for great wine at a great price in
Burgundy is a challenging and complicated one but one
well worth pursuing. Spectacular wines, both red and white,
can be found. However forewarned is forearmed!