Côte De Nuits and Hautes-Côtes De Nuits 145 Côte De Nuits and Hautes-Côtes De Nuits
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BURGUNDY - CÔTE DE NUITS AND HAUTES-CÔTES DE NUITS 145 CÔTE DE NUITS AND HAUTES-CÔTES DE NUITS The Côte de Nuits is essentially a red-wine area D1089 Communal appellation Bourgogne Montrecul villages or towns Corcelles- (with one or two extraordinary whites), and with les-Monts Chenove Intensive vine- D108 Dijon 22 of Burgundy’s 23 red grands crus, it is the growing zone Bourgogne Le Chapitre D122A Côte de place par excellence for Pinot Noir. Nuits-Villages Flavignerot MARSANNAY- Hautes-Côtes de LA-CÔTE Nuits Perrigny-lès- Couchey Dijon D108 Communal N74 THE CÔTE D’OR, or “golden slope,” is the departmental name appellation boundary 6 370 99 D for both the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune. Firmness and Fixin Height above A311 weight are the key words to describe the wines produced here, sea level (metres) Brochon A31 0 1 2 3 miles Chamboeuf Gevrey and these characteristics intensify as the vineyards progress north. Chambertin 227 Fénay D31 A string of villages with some of the richest names in Burgundy— 0 2 4 km D31 2 A31 Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée, and 12 D Barges Nuits-St.-Georges—these slopes ring up dollar signs in the minds 433 Ternant of merchants throughout the world. Ironically, the most famous D35 Morey St-Denis appellations also produce some of Burgundy’s worst wines. 516 Chambolle- Boise Reulle- Musigny CLOS ARLOT Vergy Vougeot OF DOMAINE D25 Epernay- D109 394 sous-Gevrey DE L’ARLOT 296 Flagey- 636 242 Echézeaux Purchased in 1987 Vosne-Romanée Messanges St-Bernard by the dynamic AXA Villars- D25 Fontaine group, Domaine de D25 l’Arlot is one of the Meuilley Vou D8 NUITS-ST- D116B ge most consistent, high- Arcenant 432 GEORGES Agencourt quality producers in Chaux Nuits-St.-Georges, D8 making textbook Pinot Villers- la-Faye St-Nicolas- Noir and, from its D35 lès-Citeaux D115 M Echevronne eu monopole Clos Arlot, Prissey z Comblanchien in minuscule amounts of D18 Gerland sublime white wine. C Pernand- 388 ou Corgoloin rta Vergelesses N74 va 115F D2 ux D D2 D20E Savigny-lès- Ladoix-Serrigny Argilly Beaune A31 FACTORS AFFECTING TASTE AND QUALITY CÔTE DE NUITS AND HAUTES-CÔTES DE NUITS, see also p137 The best vineyards of the Côte de Nuits form a tighter, more compact strip LOCATION SOIL than those of the Côte de Beaune, (see also p151), and the wines produced are, HThe Côte de Nuits is a narrow, DA subsoil of sandy-limestone, coincidentally, tighter, with more compact fruit. continuous strip of vines stretching which is exposed in places but from Dijon to just north of Beaune, usually covered by a chalky scree with the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits in mixed with marl and clay particles the southwestern hinterland. on higher slopes and richer alluvial CONFRÉRIE DES CHEVALIERS DU TASTEVIN deposits on lower slopes. Higher CLIMATE slopes sometimes have red clay. After the three terrible vintages of 1930, 1931, and 1932, and four years of FSemicontinental climate with world slump following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Camille Rodier and minimal Atlantic influence, which VITICULTURE AND Georges Faiveley formed the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin to revive results in a long, cold winter, a JVINIFICATION Burgundy’s fortunes. They named the brotherhood after the traditional humid spring, and a fairly hot, very The vines are trained low to benefit Burgundian tastevin, a shallow, dimpled, silver tasting-cup with a fluted edge. sunny summer. Hail is its greatest from heat reflected from the soil at The first investitures took place on November 16, 1934, in a cellar in Nuits-St.- natural hazard and heavy rain is night. For red wines, the grapes are Georges; the Confrérie now boasts thousands of members in numerous foreign often responsible for diluting the almost always destemmed and the chapters and averages 20 banquets a year at Château du Clos de Vougeot. wines and causing rampant rot. juice is kept in contact with the Until the late 1980s, wines bearing the distinctive Tastevinage label used to be skins for between eight and 10 ASPECT a useful means of quickly identifying wines within basic appellations that have days. Less than three percent of the risen above their modest status, but the selection gradually became less EA series of east-facing slopes wine produced is white, but this is rigorous, with some decidedly underperforming wines slipping through. In that curve in and out to give some mostly high quality and traditionally recent years, however, there appears to be more consistency, once again vineyards northeastern, some cask fermented. The best wines are making the Tastevinage label worth watching out for. southeastern aspects. The vines matured in oak. On average only one-third of the wines submitted for the Tastevinage grow at an altitude of between 740 receive the coveted label. No charge is made for entering. The minimum and 1,150 feet (225 to 350 meters) GRAPE VARIETIES quantity for commercial availability is just 900 bottles, and there is no and, asode from Gevrey-Chambertin GPrimary varieties: Pinot Noir, maximum. The wines are tasted blind, and most importantly, the tasters include and Prémeaux-Prissey, those Chardonnay hoteliers, restaurateurs, sommeliers, wine merchants, and wine press, as well as vineyards that have the right to the Secondary varieties: Pinot Gris producers. A wine can also be rejected on the basis of laboratory analysis alone village and higher appellations (known locally as Pinot Beurot), (if, for example, it has elevated levels of volatile acidity). Another plus point is rarely extend eastward beyond the Pinot Liébault, Pinot Blanc, Aligoté, the random checks that are carried out at the point of sale on all markets. RN 74 road. Melon de Bourgogne, Gamay 146 FRANCE THE APPELLATIONS OF THE CÔTE DE NUITS AND HAUTES-CÔTES DE NUITS Note Each grand cru of Côte de Nuits has its own Dufouleur • Michel Gros • Robert Jayer- RED This wine is reputed to have a greater appellation and is listed individually below. Gilles • de Montmain • Naudin-Ferrand • finesse than Chambertin but slightly less body. However, the premiers crus do not, and are Thévenot-le-Brun & Fils • Alain Verdet B • It is just as sublime. therefore listed under the appellation of the village Thierry Vigot-Battault gPinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Pinot Liébault in which the vineyards are situated. Premiers crus that are virtually contiguous with grand cru BOURGOGNE k12–30 years vineyards are in italics; they are possibly superior tBouchard Père & Fils • Bruno Clair • to those that do not share a boundary with one or MONTRECUL OR Faiveley • R. Groffier • Louis Jadot • more grand crus, and generally superior to those MONTRE-CUL OR Dominique Laurent • Lucien Lemoine • that share boundaries with village AOC vineyards. EN MONTRE-CUL AOC Armand Rousseau BONNES MARES AOC The other Bourgogne lieu-dit in this district is actually located on the outskirts of Dijon. Some CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY AOC Grand Cru might think this is a wine to moon over, but the This village is very favorably positioned, with a Bonnes Mares is the largest of the two grands only wine I have tasted (again Domaine solid block of vines nestled in the shelter of a crus of Chambolle-Musigny. It covers 34 acres Bouvier) was again not special. If no one is geological fold. (13.5 hectares) in the north of the village, on going to produce something exciting under RED Many of these medium- to fairly full- lieux-dits the opposite side to Musigny, the village’s other these Bourgogne , why bother with bodied wines have surprising finesse and grand cru, and extends a further 3.5 acres (1.5 them in the first place? fragrance for mere village wines. hectares) into Morey-St.-Denis. CHAMBERTIN AOC gPinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Pinot Liébault RED This wine combines a fabulous femininity of style with sheer depth of flavor to give Grand Cru k8–15 years something rich and luscious, yet complex and tGhislaine Barthod • Sylvain Cathiard (Les complete. Clos de L’Orme) • Dujac Père • J. F. gPinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Pinot Liébault Mugnier • Géantet Pansiot • Perrot-Minot • Daniel Rion & Fils • Georges Roumier • k 12–25 years Comte Georges de Vogüé tBouchard Père & Fils • Dujac • R. Groffier • Dominique Laurent • J. F. Mugnier • CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY Christophe Roumier • Georges Roumier • Nicolas Potel • Comte Georges de Vogüé PREMIER CRU AOC Premiers crus: Les Amoureuses, Les Baudes, BOURGOGNE Aux Beaux Bruns, Les Borniques, Les Carrières, LA CHAPITRE AOC Les Chabiots, Les Charmes, Les Châtelots, La This is one of the nine grands crus of Gevrey- Combe d'Orveau, Aux Combottes, Les One of the Côte de Nuits’ two Bourgogne lieux- Combottes, Les Cras, Derrière la Grange, Aux dits created in 1993, La Chapitre is located at Chambertin. All of them (quite legally) add the name Gevrey-Chambertin to their own and one, Echanges, Les Feusselottes, Les Fuées, Les Chenove, between Marsannay and Dijon. Grands Murs, Les Groseilles, Les Gruenchers, According to Anthony Hanson (in his book Clos de Bèze, actually has the right to sell its wines as Chambertin. Les Hauts Doix, Les Lavrottes, Les Noirots, Les Burgundy), the wines of Chenove once fetched Plantes, Les Sentiers. higher prices than those of Gevrey (Chenove’s RED Always full in body and rich in extract, most famous vineyard is Clos du Roi, of which The outstanding premier cru is Les Amoureuses, Chambertin is not, however, powerful like Labouré-Roi took management in 1994), but the with Les Charmes a very respectable second. Corton, but graceful and feminine with a vivid only example I have tasted (Domaine Bouvier) RED The best have a seductive bouquet and color, stunning flavor, impeccable balance, and was not special.