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Appellations & Classifications

Any decent restaurant wine list should serve to remind us that Burgundian nomenclature can be very confusing; the combination of village name along with the name of a classified vineyard, lieu-dit or perhaps even a brand name is sufficient to confound. Add in the vagaries of vintage and producer - acknowledging that a number of related vignerons can have very similar names, and that any one of them one may bottle many different wines from different vineyards and appellations, some of which will doubtlessly be better than others - and the confusion increases considerably. Then consider that thanks to the abolition of primogeniture by Napoleon, a peculiarity of France's laws of inheritance which I discussed in History & Variety, one particular vineyard may have many different owners making their own version of the wine, again some great, some less so. Don't forget the grand cru wines, of course, which don't even give the village of origin on the label, just to test you that little bit more. Maybe a quick look at that wine list might be enough to make you throw in the towel right now?

So how should we try to unravel this mess?

Undoubtedly the best (and perhaps only way) to get to grips with Burgundy is to drink the wines - paying appropriate attention to the label as we do so. You can do this with a buyer's guide in hand, or you can explore alone; the former involves drinking to the tune of someone else's palate but at least it improves the 'hit rate' of good bottles, the latter perhaps conveys a more valid and personal tasting experience, but is complicated by expensive disappointments. Whichever approach you take, gradually you will build a sound knowledge of the different producers, vineyards and perhaps just as importantly you will get to know the best sources to buy, those merchants with the most insightful lists and who offer the most sage advice. The best surrogate I think I can offer through this online guide is to look at some labels. Before I get to them, however, an overview of the appellation system might be worthwhile.

Dividing up Burgundy

Although this guide focuses on the most famous names of Burgundy - especially the grand cru and leading premier cru vineyards - we can see from the illustration on the right that these only account for a small proportion of what Burgundy gives us. This illustration - or variations upon it - can be found in many Burgundy texts; I have had my own version online since 2001, and for this updated version I have taken the data from Pitiot & Servant's The Wines of Burgundy (Collection Pierre Poupon, 13th edition, 2005). At the peak of the pyramid are the grand cru appellations, Chambertin, Musigny, Corton, Chablis Grand Cru and so on; the pinnacle of Burgundy accounts for just 2% of her wines. In this illustration the communal production, which altogether accounts for 45% of production, is divided into two, the top half representing those wines that are bottled under communal appellations with a premier cru climat appended, and the bottom half for those without. The third group, shown as the bedrock of the pyramid, is for the regional appellations, which includes generic wines such as Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages, Mâcon and Bourgogne of any colour, generic Côte Chalonnaise, the sparkling Crémant de Bourgogne and many other wines. As can be seen these account for the majority of Burgundy's wines, and yet much of this production is of limited interest. Some such wines do provide excellent drinking, whether they be Bourgogne Rouge from a top domaine, such as Domaine Leroy (in 2004 this generic cuvée accounted for the domaine's entire production, a blend of declassified grands and premiers crus) or whether they be good value, well-made commercial cuvées such as Albert Bichot's tasty Bourgogne Blanc, but you must search hard and choose wisely in order to find these good-value bottles.

Six Hundred Appellations?

It is not unknown for the more outspoken critic of Burgundy to wade in with a broadside against what they perceive as a complex litany of appellations in the region. The usual number bandied around is in excess of six hundred, a figure that would put the Loire and her seventy-plus appellations to shame - if it were true. Burgundy appellations are in fact very simple, serving to do little more that indicate commune of origin (Gevrey-Chambertin, Meursault, Chablis) or vineyard of origin in the case of the grands crus (Chablis Grand Cru, Chambertin, Corton). There is little else on the label that is appellation per se - the problem is that the authors in question have not grasped the difference between appellation and classification.

The details of the appellations are laid down in law by the INAO, and there are - perhaps surprisingly to some - only three groups. At the peak are the grand cru appellations, which number 33 in total (the top 2% in the pyramid above); of these 32 are spread along the Côte d'Or, with a single grand cru appellation in Chablis (if this latter point seems at odds with your knowledge of this region you can find more detail in my forthcoming guide to Chablis). Then come the communal appellations, essentially the village wines (the next 45% in the pyramid above), whether the village in question be Chablis itself, or one found in the Côte d'Or (e.g. Pommard), Côte Chalonnaise (e.g. Montagny), Mâconnais (e.g. Pouilly-Fuissé) or Beaujolais (e.g. Fleurie). The pivotal point of confusion here is that premier cru vineyards do not have their own appellations; each of these communal appellations may append the name of a climat (a vineyard) on the label, and these may be classified as premier cru, in which case this will commonly be stated on the label, such as with Pommard Premier Cru Clos du Micault, or it may be an unclassified vineyard, often referred as a lieu-dit (which literally translates as "named place") such as Pommard Clos des Ursulines. And in some cases, where the wine has been blended from more than one suitably classified vineyard, a wine may be declared as premier cru without any mention of the vineyards of origin - Pommard Premier Cru. These latter wines may also be sourced from grand cru vineyards, of course, having been declassified, usually by winemakers looking to bottle only the very best quality under the grand cru appellation.

It is impracticable to try and provide a list of all the premier cru climats that may be appended to the communal appellations here, as these account for most of six hundred non-appellations cited above, nevertheless the grand cru appellations are certainly worthy of individual mention, not merely because these are less numerous but because these represent the pinnacle of all Burgundy's wines. These are as follows:

As I have indicated above, however, an understanding of Burgundy and her vineyards may be better formed by taking a look at some examples of the region's labels. This is what I do in the next section of my guide.

• Part 4: Burgundy Labels