The roofs of the Hospices and, in the background, very close by, the vineyard of the appellation Beaune .
Vineyards

Beaune the beautiful stranger

Beaune , its town, its little cobbled streets, its Place Carnot, its restaurants, its wine shops, its Saturday morning market, its wine museum, its Hospices and… its appellation eponymous. We still sometimes find some enthusiasts and distributors with a rather vague understanding of the appellation Beaune where, however, one finds great red and white wines. Whose fault is it?

by

Christophe TUPINIER

THE

"The reputation of the wines of Beaune "is not up to their quality standard," says Frédéric Barnier, technical director of the Maison Louis Jadot which farms 90 hectares in Côte de Beaune And Côte de Nuits , including 24 on Beaune He therefore has an informed opinion on the question And we share his opinion. appellation Beaune is undeniably underrated for a whole host of reasons. "We know the historic city, with its Hospices, its Place Carnot, its shops, its wine museum in the former Hôtel des Ducs de Bourgogne… but not the wine," you sometimes hear. The city of Beaune would therefore be a problem for the appellation Beaune This seems a bit flimsy to us, and one might think, on the contrary, that the city's renown should be an asset for the wines. A problem with overall communication? Who knows…

Another argument: "The appellation is vast, has too many first growths (forty-two) and too few wines from AOC villages "...entry-level, in a way, which hurts its visibility..." A few tweaks here and there might be possible, some grouping of climates is probably conceivable, as was done at Volnay a few years ago, but even so, the delimitation of the Premier Cru vineyards does not seem unreasonable to us; many potential hectares of AOC villages The lower slopes have simply been urbanized by the city's westward expansion, and it's hard to imagine bulldozers destroying houses or buildings to plant vineyards. Besides, in many areas, prices remain affordable even in premier cru .

A few great whites and many great reds

L' appellation Beaune is she too rouge That's probably true, and Frédéric Barnier even believes "there's still potential to be revealed in chardonnay The proportion of blanc has increased, slowly, for the past twenty years, and the process will undoubtedly continue, as in Domaine Albert Morot, who has just uprooted some Pinot Noir vines in the premier cru All Saints' Day to plant some chardonnay However, caution is advised… Beaune It currently produces some great white wines and many great red wines, and this is not without sound agronomic reasons. Beware of a more widespread "whitening" of the appellation which would take place in red wine regions; we have seen some examples of this type in Chassagne-Montrachet In particular. The current trend, the prevailing consumer fashion, is undoubtedly favorable to white people, but fashion…

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