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Côte de Beaune Part 1

Just as the Côte de Nuits peters out through Nuits-St-Georges and Prémeaux, the Côte de Beaune begins in a similarly stuttering fashion, slowly whirring and wheezing rather than roaring into life. Ladoix-Serrigny marks the true starting point, a small village which possesses a tiny cluster of premier cru vineyards and a rather larger array of village sites. Right next-door is Aloxe-Corton and then just around the corner there is Pernand-Vergelesses, and together these three villages encircle the grand cru vineyard Corton which sits on the hill above them.

Rather like Clos de Vougeot this famed grand cru covers an expansive area and for me it was another early introduction to the highest rung of the Burgundy appellation ladder. And just like my first ever taste of Clos de Vougeot, it was another disappointment, for although this vineyard is famed, not all its wines are necessarily fabulous. To understand more we should explore this vineyard in some detail, and so it is with this famous hill that I open my guide to the Côte de Beaune.

The Hill of Corton

It might seem peculiar to focus on a single grand cru site rather than an associated commune, but in terms of topography at least this is no ordinary vineyard. There are 160 hectares of vines here; thus the vineyard not only dwarfs every grand cru site on the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, it is larger than the footprint of some communes, grand cru, premier cru and village vineyards combined. Such is its size that it lies within not one or even two communes but three, the aforementioned Ladoix-Serrigny, Aloxe-Corton and Pernand-Vergelesses. The only sensible approach is to look at all three in union.

The larger of the Corton trio is Aloxe, its boundaries extending around the hill of Corton, northwards towards Ladoix and westwards towards Pernand, and it thus lays claim to most of the hill (about 120 hectares) and associated premier cru vineyards; it is not surprising this association between commune and grand cru has been cemented with the appending of the vineyard's name, giving us Aloxe-Corton. As with most other Côte d'Or communes village and vines are contiguous, as shown in the image on the left; this is a view of Chateau Corton-André, a domaine which lies on the very edge of Aloxe-Corton, as seen from the Corton vineyards just below the Corton-Charlemagne section near the southern end of the hill, as indicated by viewpoint 1 on the map below.

There is more to Corton than just Corton though, as there are also the overlapping Corton-Charlemagne and Charlemagne appellations. Whereas Corton is usually red (although it can also be white) the wines of Corton-Charlemagne and its Charlemagne enclave, the produce of land donated by Charlemagne to the Abbey of St Andoche in Saulieu in 775, are always white (if the land is planted with red wines it must be labelled as Corton). Legend has it that a section of the hill was converted to producing white rather than red under the direction of Charlemagne himself, purportedly to provide him with a wine which did not stain his beard. Modern maps of the vineyard tend to show the division between red and white as distinct regions, the Charlemagne portion running around the south-western slopes predominantly, the red Corton vineyards close to Aloxe and Ladoix, but in truth to state this as a bald fact is an over-simplification. The two are not so clearly defined, and a number of domaines have in the past opted to replace red vines with white, and more recently I know of at least one domaine that has done the converse, grubbing up its Chardonnay vines, used for Corton-Charlemagne, and replacing them with Pinot Noir.

What are well defined, however, are the various climats which Corton possesses, including evocative names such as Clos-du-Roi, Le Corton and Les Bressandes. All these may appear, in suffixes, on the label. If the declaration admits to only Corton, it is most probably a blend from various sites on the hill. A number of these climats may be seen in the image below which shows the view up the hill from close to the intersection of the rue des Vergennes, which runs up the slope out of Ladoix-Serrigny, and the chemin des Maréchaudes which runs along the lower edge of Les Bressandes, just above Les Maréchaudes; the position is indicated by viewpoint 2 on the map above. Running your mouse over the image will provide more detail on the boundaries of each climat.

Just as Chambertin had Napoleon, Corton too has had its acolytes. Not just Charlemagne, but also Voltaire, who would order case after case of both white and red. This was pre-Revolution, when much of the hill was in the hands of the church, later joined by a number of wealthy local landowners also. Naturally these assets were all seized and auctioned off after the events of the late-18th century, bringing us gradually to the current state of play. And as you might imagine and as I disclosed in my introduction, today we have an extensive vineyard that provides us both with exceptional wines white and red, but also a number of less-than-memorable grand cru disappointments. For the red wines in particular some sections of the vineyard are certainly less worthy of the appellation than others, and prices may reflect this. When successful, though, the wines can be certainly enticing if not enthralling, offering perhaps one of the deeper and more structured experiences of the Côte de Beaune, if nothing else. The white wines can be truly exceptional though; substantial and solid, they can be more austere than those from Montrachet to the south, cut through with a firmer acidity. I like the style very much.

The Vineyards of Ladoix, Aloxe & Pernand

As for the premier cru and village wines of the associated three communes, these may also provide some worthwhile bottles. Ladoix-Serrigny has eleven premier cru sites clustered around the village and the northern end of the Corton vineyards, which rudely intrudes onto Ladoix territory behind the village itself. Note though that there are another six climats within the commune of Ladoix-Serrigny which come under the Aloxe-Corton appellation. The Ladoix wines are not particularly distinguished compared with their Côte d'Or peers, but can provide good, sturdy drinking. Including the communal vineyards and the appropriate section of Corton there are about 150 hectares here, producing red and white wines. As for Aloxe, the fifteen premier cru sites (nine in Aloxe, six in Ladoix) tend to run along the foot of the Corton grands crus, and a number of sites are divided between grand cru at the top and premier cru lower down, or in the extreme example of Les Paulands, grand cru, premier cru and village appellation at top, middle and bottom respectively. The village vineyards tend to be to the south, running into Chorey-les-Beaune. In total the commune amounts to 250 hectares, including the Corton vines, and although the regulations allow for white wine the vast majority is red.

Finally come the vineyards of Pernand-Vergelesses which are contiguous with those of Aloxe-Corton running around the hill of Corton and which then spread out on the slopes behind and opposite the hill. All told there are about 210 hectares which, like those in Ladoix and Aloxe, may be planted to red or white. Although for these other two communes I have not singled out any particular premier cru for attention there is one site here that should be noted; this is Ile de Vergelesses (9.4 hectares) which sits in the southerly part of the commune, abutting that of Savigny-les-Beaune. I have had a number of good bottles from this site, and the importance of this climat to the inhabitants of the village has, like so many other vineyards up and down the Côte d'Or, been emphasised by appending its name to that of the commune.

From Corton to Beaune

From the grandeur of Corton we move to the headquarters of this section of the Côte d'Or, Beaune itself. Neither here nor in the nearby villages of Chorey-les-Beaune or Savigny-les-Beaune (both sources of some good-value bottles) are there any grand cru vineyards to be found, a situation akin to that in the Nuits capital. Nevertheless this is the hub of the Côte de Beaune, home to numerous wine-related businesses, offices and warehouses, as well as the most picturesque and photogenic aspect of the Burgundy wine industry, namely the historic Hospices de Beaune with its fabulous multi-coloured tiled roof (akin to that of Corton-André above, but on a much grander scale). I have walked around the centre of Beaune several times, and have been within the hospices to appreciate this visual wonder for myself, but sadly never in conditions that favoured photography.

The vineyards of Beaune lie to the west of the town, a huge swathe of premier cru sites, with a very small associated area eligible only for the village appellation. To the north are Savigny and Chorey, which sit between Beaune and Aloxe-Corton, and to the south is Pommard. The style of wine produced here is much more typical of the Côte de Beaune, lighter in terms of substance and structure than the Côte de Nuits and also Corton, and it is largely red, the production of white being on a microscopic scale. With so many premier cru sites there is obviously some variation in quality, and Burgundy anoraks will each have their own preferences I am sure. Some are very well known, some are extraordinarily obscure and rarely (if ever) seen. Top choices are likely to include Les Marconnets (9.4 hectares) and Les Perrières (3.2 hectares), both at the northern end of the commune and moving towards the centre Les Bressandes, Les Grèves and Les Teurons, these three all large vineyards (17, 31.3 and 21 hectares in turn) and amongst the best sites of the commune. Further to the south nearer the border with Pommard are Les Chouacheux (5 hectares), one of my earliest (and again fairly disappointing) experiences of the commune, and Clos-des-Mouches (21.2 hectares), another large site with a decent reputation and a particularly respectable source of white Beaune. Beyond the premier cru sites (of which a number are fairly uninspiring) the village wines here are of limited interest. All told there are about 450 hectares, making this one of the largest communes of the Côte d'Or, especially if we throw in the 30 or so hectares of Côte de Beaune (note not Côte de Beaune-Villages, a more generic appellation) vineyards cultivated on the hills above the town.

The image above shows the vines of the Clos des Mouches, looking down onto the outskirts of Beaune and the Avenue André Boisseaux. This is a fairly typical view of the Beaune vineyards, a swathe of vines and the town in the distance, and in truth there is little more to the appellation than this, and thus there is little more to say about Beaune. Although the town undoubtedly plays a key role as the hub of the wine industry on the Côte de Beaune, as for understanding its wines it is really a matter of exploring the premiers crus to find a favourite, naturally paying as much attention to the domaine as much as the climat. The handful of vineyards listed above, perhaps in combination with some of the suggested domaines given on the right, would be as good a place to start as any.

• Part 12: Côte de Beaune Part 2