When it comes to wine regions, Burgundy is perhaps one of the trickiest terrains to track
Located in the east of France, Burgundy comprises six different sub-regions spread from north to south across a hundred and fifty miles
These sub regions contain an incredible total of 84 unique Appellations which all produced different styles of wine
Burgundy producers may also span several sub regions or Appellations some producing over 50 different wines each year
It's our job to help you understand this burgundy puzzle
Starting in the far north of Burgundy is the famed white wine outpost of Chablis. Here the wines are made exclusively from chardonnay
interestingly Chablis is actually located closer to champagne than the rest of Burgundy. This Jurassic limestone rich soil producing wines with
astonishing minerality and elegance
could you describe the taste of
Chablis to me? Chablis is a unique expression of Chardonnay in the world with a freshness minerality
And purity this place make very elegant Chardonnay. So what is it about Chardonnay that you'd like to work with?
Chardonnay is
Very interesting because with Chardonnay you can have the true expression for each terroir in Chablis
we have a large diversity with facing with slope and
Each part of Chablis can give a different wine and I think Chardonnay is a perfect vector
With terroir and text and you can have with this variety
the two expression of terroir.
Traveling south we moved to Burgundy's prized region the Cote d'Or, or the golden slope
Which is home to the most expensive wines in the world
Split into two sub regions
The North is called the Cote De Nuit and is home to the world's greatest Pinot Noir vineyards such as Romanée-Conti
From which just one bottle has sold for almost half a million pounds at auction
In the southern part of the Cote d'Or we find the Cote de Beaune famous for its world-class whites from the vineyards of Monrachet
Excellent and more affordable options can also be found from neighbouring Appellations such as Saint-Aubin
and Meursault. So, how do Beaune reds differ from other villages?
Beaune is an incredible patchwork of different places. It's quite vast
You have the north of the village which compares more to the Cote De Nuit then if you go further south
You have a Beaune Graves, Graves mean sand and so it's a more
feminine
Precocious
Terroir we pick the grapes earlier and the wines are more tender and then you have the Beaune teurons , which is more South
Where you have a combination of it you so it's masculine and feminine at the same time
We have about 35 different Premier Cru in Beaune to give you the diversity
You can make 35 different wines
in a circle of
Few kilometers around where we are now
Back to our map and moving further south
we find that Cote Chalonnaise, a sub region known for its Premier Cru such as Mercurey and Rully and
The Maconnais, sub region where you'll discover the famous white wine appellation of Pouilly-Fuisse
We see finally at the southern tip and warmest of all the Burgundy sub regions is Beaujolais where the Gamay grape is king
This area is synonymous with Beaujolais Nouveau an era which tarnished the sub-regions reputation
However, the region's ten cru including Fleurie, Moulin-A-Vent, Morgon are now taken very seriously amongst those in the know
more wine producers across the globe can grow Pinot Noir or Chardonnay
It will never taste quite the same as it does in this particular area of France because of the incredibly unique terroir
what does a terroir mean? A terroir is a French word which means it's a combination of
The soil and the climate is really the place where we are and in fact
We've become part of a UNESCO heritage two years ago
And we couldn't terroir the climate the climat. with such incredible variety produced from just a handful of grapes
We will help you explore the whole of Burgundy and it's six sub regions finding the unique
Characteristics for the most famous names and places as well as many fantastic hidden gems