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A Beginners Guide to the Wines of Burgundy
You planning to drink wine when you go to Burgundy? Would you like to know a little bit about what you will be drinking? Want to learn a bit about the wines of Burgundy?
I am NOT a wine expert by any stretch of anyones imagination. Wine experts? I think of those as people with years and years of training and study, who have traveled extensively and visited scores of vineyards around the world.
That’s not me.
However, my husband and I have taken multiple wine classes, we are in a wine tasting club, and we like to study the local beverages and foods of anywhere that we plan to visit. So when we knew we were going to Burgundy we studied the wines of the region…and…it is complicated!
Going to Burgundy with even a little bit of knowledge about the wines of the area will make your trip more enjoyable.
Here is the information I wish I had known before we went!
By the way, this is the Cliff notes version of the wines of Burgundy also known as,
A Beginners Guide to the Wines of Burgundy.
Burgundy is a region of France:
I mean, of course it is, right? In the French language Burgundy is Bourgogne and this is the name you will see on the wine bottles. It’s in the eastern part of the country, long and skinny, landlocked, and has a fairly dramatic climate with short hot summers and cold winters. It can have drought or storms, hail or relentless sun. People from the US tend to call a wine from Burgundy, well, a Burgundy.
We may break it down by calling it a white Burgundy or a red Burgundy, but that doesn’t really mean much does it? And I assure you the wine producers from the area would be appalled by that nomenclature!
A wine from Bourgogne is SO much more than just a Burgundy.
Burgundy wines come from only 2 different grapes:
Yep. You read that right. This is the only simple part of the wines of Burgundy! A red wine from Burgundy comes from the Pinot Noir grape and a white wine from Burgundy is a Chardonnay. I’m serious! So, how can they all taste so different? Well, it’s because of…
Terroir
It’s all about terroir! You will hear this word again and again while in Burgundy. Imagine it said with all those French r’s!
Terroir, loosely translated, means soil, but it really means so much more than that! It is the geography, the geology, the soil, the micro-climate, the sun-exposure, the shade, the elevation…it is what makes wine from one hillside different than wine from the neighboring hill.
Heck, according to the winemakers in Burgundy it is what makes wine from one row of vines different from the row beside it!
In most wine growing regions the grapes from a single slope of land would all go into the same bottles of wine. Not in Burgundy! They are known for and pride themselves on preserving the character of the wine brought on by tiny differences in terroir.
Terroir is a bit unquantifiable and a bit intangible, but if you listen to French vintners you learn that it is everything.
Burgundy wine regions:
There are distinct wine regions within Burgundy. It’s definitely not one homogenous wine growing region. Here is a map that will help to clarify things. Even though we are talking about predominantly just two types of grapes, the wines from the different areas will vary a lot because of, duh, the terroir!
The very, very short description the various regions and their wines:
- Chablis – The style is so distinct from the other wines of Burgundy that it is sometimes treated as it’s own region. Chablis is produced from Chardonnay grapes grown right on the edge of being too far north to grow grapes. It is dry and refreshing and they typically don’t use oak. I have never been a big fan of California chardonnays but discovered while in Burgundy that I love a good Chablis.
- Cote de Nuit and Cote de Beaune together make up the Cote d’Or or the gold slope. This is where the most famous and renowned wines of Burgundy are produced. These are the big daddies of Burgundy wines people! The Cote de Nuit or dark slope grows mostly pinot noir and the Cote de Beaune, because of its more open rolling hills, produces more Chardonnay, but both areas grow both grapes. The Cote de Nuit has some of the most expensive wine real estate anywhere in the world.
- Cote Chalonnaise – This area has wines that are known for being a better price value and this is also where the French sparkling wine known as Cremant is produced. These sparkling wines are made in a traditional manner, but because they aren’t in the Champagne region they can’t be called Champagne. I discovered a love for Cremant while we were in Burgundy. In this post I tell about how well it pairs with Lay’s potato chips.
- Maconnaise – I don’t believe that we ever tried a wine from this region while we were in Burgundy. They are known for their whites and I was told that they are a little less dry with a softer, slightly fruitier taste than the white Burgundy wines from farther north. They have been consistently improving their wines from this region and these could be a decent price for value for the area.
Classifications of the wines of Burgundy:
One of the complicated things about French wine in general is that each wine growing region of the country has its own system of classification.
In Burgundy wine is classified by, no surprise here, terroir.
The wines of Burgundy are classified based on the consistency of the quality of the grapes grown in a particular vineyard or even in a particular part of a vineyard due to its terroir.
The difference between the highest classification and the one just below can be grapes grown a foot or two apart. The classification system stays steady throughout the years and does not have anything to do with vintage.
Here are the classes from what is considered lowest quality to best. However, this does not mean that there aren’t good wines in every category! In fact, there are wonderful wines in the regional and village categories that are actually affordable for the average person.
- Regional A.O.P. – can be made from grapes grown anywhere in Burgundy. Cremant is also in this category. These are the wines which will say Bourgogne rouge (red Burgundy) or Bourgogne Blanc (white Burgundy) on their label.
- Village wines – made from grapes grown near the village for which they are named.
- Premiere Cru – made only from certain vineyards or areas of vineyards within a village area.
- Grand Cru – the highest quality vineyard areas. Grown in very specific areas. These are the most famous and expensive of all the Burgundy wines.
You can see that the Grand Crus are in limited supply! But they are also so expensive that most of us can’t afford to drink them anyway!
Appellations:
Did you see the word appellation in the previous chart? And AOC? You will see this a lot in Burgundy. Again, it’s complicated, but the wines of Burgundy are further broken down from the 4 classifications above into 84 appellations. These are known as Appellations D’Origine Controlee or AOC.
From regional wines to the grand crus the vineyards are divided into appellations based on the natural conditions or terroir of the vineyard The AOC guarantees the authenticity of the wine, the terroir and the traditional production methods.
Basically, they verify for you that your expensive Grand Cru wine is definitely from Grand Cru grapes!
Every AOC wine is rigorously checked in every step of its production.
A Burgundy wine label:
Wine labels from this region are known for being complex. But it is worth taking some time to look a couple of them over at your local wine store before your trip to Burgundy.
Because terroir is all-important in Burgundy most of the labels will tell you not only the producer name, but also the village name as well as the vineyard name and the appellation.
There ya go! This should be more than enough to get you started!
Hope this beginners guide to the wines of Burgundy will help you on your trip!
When you arrive in Burgundy you will discover that additional opportunities for learning about the local wines are practically endless.
My suggestion?
Learn as much as you need to know to fully enjoy the best part of the wines of Burgundy…tasting them!
Learn more about our 2 week itinerary in France here.
Thanks for stopping by and we love it when you pin!
24 Comments
Wow, this is so cool! What wonderful informative information. I am not a big wine person but I can see how others who would love this! 🙂
Thank you! Burgundy has wonderful food, too! Not just about the wine!
I’m not a wine drinker, so I’m no wine expert. I am however a vodka drinker, and I am a vodka expert!😉👍
Now I know nothing about vodka!
I admit I know pretty much nothing about wine. This was very informative.
Thank you!
A superb guide to the wines of Burgundy. I have never heard the word terroir! Learning about wine is something I hope to more of in the future.
There is so much to learn! I hope to learn more, too.
This sounds amazing, and yes the best part is the tasting! This reminds me of an elective class I took in college about winemaking, which went into a lot of detail on the regions and grapes, etc. It was fascinating!
I can’t believe you had a college class about winemaking! How fun! I’m pretty sure my college didn’t offer anything like that. We have had a good time learning about wines in the last few years.
My sister is great with wines and can pair wine with people and wine with food. I like sweeter wines, but do like a good red that isn’t too dry. I think if I educated myself more on wines I would be able to find more that I enjoy. I’d like to go for a wine tasting one day.
I’m sure you could find more that you enjoy if you learned a little more about them. It’s amazing how different they all are. I do think that being able to pair wines well is a talent. You can know a lot and not be able to pair them with food.
Awesome informative post! I learned so much and the terrior makes so much sense that every area of the earth is going to produce a different result! I love wine and learning new things this post has both! thanks
It does make sense doesn’t it? And Burgundy is the best at keeping those subtle distinctions.
If I could drink wine without getting splitting headaches (hello, sulfites!) I would be all over this! Le sigh!
I understand! Some reds give me a fierce headache. I’ve learned enough to know which reds I can drink and most white wines don’t bother me at all.
Very interesting info! I do not drink Alcohol, so I had no clue about any of this!
Great informative post. I drink wine but don’t know much about them other than where they come from.
This is so interesting! I love wine both whites and reds. I’ve heard that studying wines can get very complicated especially when you get into countries and regions.
great tips for Burgundy. I have always wanted to go. And I love wine!
I do not drink wine, yet I sometimes find background stories interesting.
Nana! You know your wine. I really enjoyed your article and thanks for the lesson. ☺️ Now I want to get myself a glass. It’s been a while since I’ve had a nice Burgundy.
I keep returning to this post. It is rich with detail. Love your work and sips of superb red wine.
Thank you so much, Verla!! I’m so glad that you found it helpful!