The Cote de Nuits within the Côte d'Or region of Burgundy.
The Côte de Nuits (French pronunciation:
Nuits-Saint-Georges, with four lesser villages either side. The Grand Crus of the Côte de Nuits are some of the smallest appellations in France, less than a hectare in the case of La Romanée.[1][2]
Among the northern villages of the Côte de Nuits there are several distinct
Amidst the southern villages, Nuits-Saint-Georges the largest town in the region with producers often selling their wine to the north. The local wines are most of 'Villages' quality, and need longer
aging in the cellar than most Burgundies of similar quality. Wines from Premeaux-Prissey are sold under the Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation and as Côte de Nuits Villages. Comblanchien gives its name to the seam of limestone in the middle of the Côte d'Or. Its wine is sold as Côte de Nuits Villages. The southernmost village of Corgoloin is also covered by the Côte de Nuits Villages appellation.[7][8]
History
The Burgundian kingdom (light green) included the Cote de Nuit in the 5th century AD.
The early history of the Côte de Nuits is wrapped up in the history of the greater Cote d'Or. The
Alamans and other Germanic tribes, the Romans sought the help of a Baltic tribe known as the Burgundians who would eventually settle into the area and give the region its name.[9]
In 312 AD,
Emperor Constantine visited the region, where his orator described the difficulties of cultivating vines there. While the quality of the wine was the envy of the empire, the emperor was told, the vines can only be planted on a narrow patch of land between marshy plains and infertile rocky hilltops, where winter frost would often devastate the crops. Taking the wine down from the côte in fragile wooden barrels was a treacherous ordeal along pothole-filled roads, with many barrels being broken and lost along the way. The orator also described a scene of tangled old vines and knotted roots dotted along the vineyard, a likely sign that the ancient Burgundians practiced the vine propagation method of provignage or layering.[9]
By the
Valois, through their political influence and patronage of the church, would do much to spread the renown of the area for its unique and distinctive wines. As early as the 15th century, the vineyards of Chambertain and Nuits were gaining reputations apart from the greater Burgundy region. It was, in these early years, that the developing concept of terroir-of a uniqueness tied into the land-began to be associated with the area.[9]
The 17th century saw more vineyards come under the control of the
Cathedral at Langres in 1651. Then in 1662, the Cistercians sold off all their vineyard holdings near the town of Fixin.[9]
The 18th century and changing winemaking styles
When Louis XIV's personal physician, Guy-Crescent Fagon (pictured) recommended that the king only drink the wines from the Nuits St-Georges, merchants from the Cote de Nuits used the royal association as a marketing tool for the area's wine.
During the reign of
alcohol level of the wine. Following Jean-Antoine Chaptal's, Napoleon's Minister of the Interior, recommendation to use the method now known as chaptalization to boost alcohol levels, the market was flooded with Burgundy wines from the Côte de Nuits and beyond that were dark, dense and highly alcoholic.[9]
Some of the winemakers producing those hard, dense wines would use some of small segments of white grapes grown in the Côte de Nuits as a softening blend in a manner similar to how white grapes were
historically used in Chianti. While for most of its history, the Côte de Nuits had been firmly associated with red grape varieties, the 16th and 17th century saw an increase in plantings of white grape varieties, like Chardonnay and Fromenteau. White grapes continue to be found scattered throughout the area, including a notable white Chambertain, until the mid 19th century when nearly all premier and Grand cru vineyards became completely dedicated to pinot noir.[9]
Classification of terroir
Following the success of the
single vineyard estate was more established in the Côte de Nuits than Côte de Beaune which was reflected in Lavalle's defining over 20 vineyards in the Côte de Nuits worthy of cru for red wines while the Côte de Beaune had only one exceptional vineyard. Lavalle's classification would serve as foundation for the official establishment of Grand cru and premier cru in the 1930s as Appellation d'origine contrôlée or AOCs.[9] Today there are 24 Grand cru vineyards in the Côte de Nuits clustered around six villages and more than 100 premier cru vineyards throughout the region.[5]
Climate and geography
Village and vineyards around Vosne-Romanee.
Located near the
ripening and harvest, the quality of each vintage can be highly variable. The vineyards of the Cote de Nuits are planted on east and southeast facing slopes that receive the most opportune sun exposures with vineyards designated as premier and grand cru almost always planted on this ideal aspect at elevations between 800–1000 ft (250–300 m).[6]
The area experiences a
anticyclonic conditions are present but are usually kept in check by the cooling la bise wind from the north.[1]
The term côte in
Vouge near the town of Vougeot, break up the escarpment and create patches of land with different aspects and orientations.[1]
Soils
As you travel further up the hillside of the Cote de Nuit, the mixture of soils contain a higher proportion of the light color and well draining limestone that are very favorable for growing wine grapes.
Like most of Burgundy, the
grape varieties would be most suited to the area. If the area had a high concentration of marl, pinot noir was planted while Chardonnay would grow in vineyards dominated by limestone.[6]
Most of the vineyard soils in the region date back to the
The soils closest to the plains of the Saône are too fertile, with patches of poorly drained soils, that make growing quality wine grapes difficult. As you move upwards along the cote escarpment the soil becomes progressively less fertile with higher proportions of the well-draining and highly porous
oolitic limestone and less clay. At this elevation of around 800 ft (250 m) most of the premier cru vineyards start to be found with areas of particularly favored location being designated as grand cru. The band of suitable soils for viticulture is narrow because too far up the hills (beyond 1000 ft/300 m) the top soil becomes too thin to support vines.[1]
Viticulture
Vineyards in the Côte de Nuits have very high vine density, usually more than twice the vines planted in the same area as what would be found in New World wine regions.
Like most French wine regions, viticulture in the Cote de Nuits is dictated by tradition and AOC regulations. This can be seen in the high
yields for pinot noir are limited to 40 hl/ha (2.3 tons per acre) for premier cru and village level wines and 35 hl/ha for grand cru. However, in what are deemed to be "exceptional years" that warrant larger harvests, growers can seek an exception to the yield maximum with an official plafond limite de classement or PLC from AOC authorities that will allow a 20-30% increase in maximum yields for the year.[1]
Grape varieties
The two primary grapes of the Cote de Nuits, pinot noir and Chardonnay, are believed to be
indigenous to the Burgundy wine region. Through centuries of trial and error, the two varieties have shown to produce the most consistent quality in the region. Broadly speaking, pinot noir tends to be planted in areas with high proportion of marl while Chardonnay is most often found in vineyards that are dominated by limestone. As the Cote de Nuits has many areas with significant amounts of marl, pinot noir is the dominant planting in the area. As a grape variety, pinot noir is very reflective of the terroir it is grown in which, coupled with the highly variable soils of the area, can cause two Cote de Nuits wine producers in the same year and by the same producer to be dramatically different due to where exactly they were grown.[6]
Winemaking
Among the many winemaking decisions that Cote de Nuits producers must make is the length of time that the crushed grape skins spent macerating with the juice and whether or not to include stems during this period.
Unlike other wine regions of France (such as
negociant who may be able to purchase similar lots from the same vineyard to produce more cases of that Grand cru or Premier cru level wine.[6]
Despite being made primarily from the same grape, pinot noir, winemaking styles in the Cote de Nuits is far from monolithic. The individual style of the producer or negociant and the decisions they make at each step of the winemaking process — beginning with the sorting table as they grapes arrive from the harvest — will affect the resulting quality of the wine immensely. It is this reason, along with the varied and complex ownership of most grand and premier cru vineyards, that most wine experts put more weight on the reputation of the producer and the vintage year than on the vineyard name when it comes to evaluating all Burgundy wine-the Cote de Nuits not excluded.[5]
Among the winemaking decisions where a producer's style can come through is the decision of whether or not to destem the grapes prior to crushing and fermentation. The presence of stems provide channels for the juice to percolate through the mass of grape skins that will form the
The village of Gevrey-Chambertin (jehv ray sham ber tan) is noted for its full-bodied red wines, particularly those from one of its nine grand cru vineyard - Le Chambertin, Chambertin-Clos de Beze, Mazis-Chambertin, Chapelle-Chambertin, Charmes-Chambertin, Mazoyeres-Chambertin, Griotte-Chambertin, Latricieres-Chambertin and Ruchottes-Chambertin. The village of Morey-St-Denis (maw ree san d'nee) is noted for it full-bodied red wines, particularly those from one of it five grand cru vineyards - Clos de la Roche, Clos St. Denis, Clos des Lambrays, Clos de Tart and Bonnes Mares which it shares with the village of Chambolle-Musigny. Chambolle-Musigny (shom bowl moo sih nyee) is noted for the more elegant style of wines comes from its grand cru vineyards of Bonnes Mares and Musigny as well as its several high quality premier crus.[6]
The village of Vougeot (Voo joe) is known for its large grand cru vineyard Clos de Vougeot and the full bodied wines it produces. The village of Vosne-Romanee (vone roh mah nay) is known for the rich, velvet textured wines produced in its six grand cru vineyards - Romanée-Conti, La Tâche, Richebourg, La Romanée, Romanée-St. Vivant and La Grand Rue. The village of Flagey-Echezeaux (flah jhay eh sheh zoe) is essentially a hamlet of Vosne-Romanee that contains the grand crus of Grands Echézeaux and Echézeaux. The Cote de Nuits takes its name from the village of Nuits-St-Georges (nwee san johr'j) which contains no grand crus but several highly esteemed premier crus such as Les Vaucrains and Les Saints-Georges that produces earthy red wines.[6]
Secondary villages
The village of Marsannay (mahr sah nay) is noted for its pinot noir rosés.
The village of Fixin (fee san) is noted for its earthy red wines, particularly those from its premier cru vineyard of Clos du Chapitre.[6]
Appellation labeling laws
Wine from the Gevrey-Chambertin region of the Cote de Nuits.
Wine produced in the Cote de Nuits can fall under several
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) depending on where the grapes were grown and whether they were blended with grapes from other areas. All wines produced in the Cote de Nuits is entitled to the basic AOC Bourgogne designation for either its blanc Chardonnay wines or it rouge pinot noir. A higher quality AOC is the Côte de Nuits Villages, a general appellation for wines from five of the smaller communes : Fixin and Brochon in the north, Comblanchien, Corgoloin and Prissey to the south. The Hautes-Côtes de Nuits are a separate appellation for the hills to the west of Nuits-St-Georges. Individual 'village' appellations are the next step up, although not all match the commune boundaries or names. Notably in the north the Marsannay appellation covers Marsannay-la-Côte and parts of Couchey and Chênove. The Premiers Crus are the next level and roughly correspond to individual vineyards that weren't deemed good enough for Grand Cru status.[6][12]
