What Are The Wine Sub-Regions Of Burgundy?

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 150 miles. These sub-regions contain an incredible total of 84 unique appellations, which all produce 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? Chablis is a unique expression of Chardonnay in the world with a freshness, minerality and purity. This place makes 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 taste. And you can have with this variety the true expression of terroir. Travelling south we move 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 Romani 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 Montrachet. Excellent and more affordable options can also be found from neighbouring appellations such as Saint-Aubin and Morceau. 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 the Beaune Greve. The greve means sand, so it's a more feminine, precocious terroir. We picked the grapes earlier and the wines are more tender. And then you have the Beaune Theron, which is more south, where you have a combination of the two, so it's masculine and feminine at the same time. We have about 35 different Premiers Cru in Beaune, so it gives you the diversity. You can make 35 different wines in a circle of a few kilometres around where we are now. Back to our map and moving further south we find the Cote Chalonaise, a sub-region known for its Premier Cru such as Mercury and Ruy. And then Macon, a sub-region where you'll discover the famous white wine appellation of Puy-et-Fuissé. 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-region's reputation. However the region's 10 Cru, including Fleury, Moulin Avent and Morgan, are now taken very seriously amongst those in the know. While 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? So terroir is a French word which means it's a combination of the soil and the climate. It's really the place where we are and in fact we've become part of a UNESCO heritage two years ago and we call the 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 its six sub-regions, finding the unique characteristics from the most famous names and places as well as many fantastic hidden gems.