Burgundy
Burgundy is monoculture in service of terroir: Pinot Noir for reds, Chardonnay for whites, almost everything else excluded. The slope between Dijon and Beaune is mapped down to the row, with hundreds of climats — named parcels — each carrying centuries of reputation. Bottles from neighboring rows can taste profoundly different, which is the point.
Signature grapes
Defining styles
Famous appellations
- Côte de Nuits
- Côte de Beaune
- Chablis
History
Cistercian monks codified the climat system in the Middle Ages, recording which patches ripened earliest and tasted finest. The 1789 Revolution broke the abbey holdings into thousands of fragments via inheritance law, producing the modern domaine map. The 20th century formalized appellations, and today Burgundy is studied like scripture by sommeliers.