Cotes de Nuits Wines
This is the platinum coast for top red Burgundies, and undoubtedly, the natural and spiritual home of Pinot Noir. All except one of the red Burgundy Grand Crus are from this tiny area, which stretches only around 24km in length, and a tiny 2.3km in width, yet is home to some of the most idolised red wines in the world. It covers 24 of Burgundy’s 33 Grand Cru wines, and plantings are 95% Pinot Noir, with only 5% Chardonnay (mainly from Vougeot and Musigny). The area is small, the vineyards are tiny, and the production is much smaller than the neighbouring Cotes de Beaune; here quality is king and no compromise is made in terms of volume.
Cotes De Nuits Sub-Regions
The sub regions of the Cote de Nuits read like a who’s who of wine celebrities, and include the majority of the stellar names in the Burgundian lexicon. Let’s look at the different appelations and villages, moving north to south, where relevant.
Cotes De Nuits Villages & Hautes Cotes De Nuits Villages
These wines come from vineyards from the most northern and southern end of the Cote de Nuits, often surrounding some of the most famous communes, and, with the right negociant, will offer very good value for money. The wines are 95% red, and cover the areas not included in the grander titles, yet offer lovely typicity in the wines that they produce. The key villages that are included in this categorisation, since they do not have individual categorisation are Fixin, Brochon, Premeaux, Corgoloin, and Comblanchien. As with all Burgundy, it’s important to trust the negociant or owner, whose name is on the label; these could offer fantastic Pinot varietal character and Burgundian style or be profoundly disappointing.
The Hautes Cotes de Nuits appellation covers wines from vineyards in very close proximity to the famous individual communes, and will provide a great idea of the style of the region, since they are so close to some of the greatest vineyards in the world. However, once again, it’s down to the producer and the negociant, as to how they work with the grapes, and how they put their wines into bottle. There are some superb value wines from this appellation, if you know the right producers to buy from.
Marsannay
The most northern of the Burgundian appellations, making white, red and the also the only appellation to make rose. It was only given its own appellation in 1987, and lies on the outskirts of the large city of Dijon. Whites are soft, and more in the style of Chalonnais whites, and reds are generally light in style.
Fixin
Another little known appellation, just south of Marsannay, producing a fuller style of red, offering great value for money, over its more famous neighbour Gevrey-Chambertin. 95% of the production is red, with 5% white.
Gevrey-Chambertin
Morey St-Denis
Chambolle-Musigny
Vougeot
Vosne-Romanee
Nuits St Georges