4 anecdotes so that Burgundy will no longer hold any secrets for you
You will most certainly be aware that France has 13 wine growing regions. You have probably also heard that with its 28,000 hectares, Burgundy is one of the largest wine growing regions in France and that it is divided into 6 sub-regions.
Do you know why Pinot Noir is currently the main grape variety used to produce Burgundy's red wines? Are you aware of the story of the famous Hospices de Beaune auction? Here are 4 anecdotes so you know everything about Burgundy.
1) Tell me about Climats!
"In Burgundy, when we talk about a 'Climate', we don't look up at the sky, we look down to the ground". By saying this, the writer and journalist, Bernard Pivot, illustrates a characteristic of the Burgundy wine growing region that cannot be found anywhere else: the Climats (climates). This term, which is a little misleading, does not refer to the weather but to plots of vines that are carefully delineated according to specific criteria (history, soil, sub-soil, geolocation, micro-climate).
Burgundy has a total of 1,463 Climats ranging from Dijon to Santenay, South of Beaune. The wines from a Climat are classified according to a specific hierarchy (Regional, Village, Premier Cru, Grand Cru Appellation). Some wines have even given their name to Climats, such as Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, Corton, Montrachet, Musigny and Romanée-Conti.
2) Why is Pinot Noir mainly found in Burgundy red wines?
Any self-respecting Burgundy wine enthusiast knows full well that most Burgundy red wines are produced from Pinot Noir. However, Gamay was the leading grape variety in Burgundy for a long time. Right up until King Philip II of Burgundy, nicknamed "Philip the Bold" intervened. Keen to enhance the value of Burgundy wines, in 1395, the King drafted a Decree ordering Gamay plants to be ripped up and replaced with Pinot Noir, a grape variety fairly unknown by the general public at the time and able to produce more complex wines. However, despite the ban, Burgundy's inhabitants clung on to Gamay, which gradually reappeared in the vineyards. Right up to 1935, when Burgundy obtained the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) label and when the territories were completely reorganised. Gamay was therefore transferred to its neighbouring vineyard region of Beaujolais and officially replaced with Pinot Noir.
3) Hospices de Beaune : 5 centuries of history
Every year, the best of the world of wine, but also wine lovers, rush to Burgundy to witness what has become, in the space of 155 years, one of the most important events in the world of wine: the Hospices de Beaune. This great annual auction offers wines of the AOC Côtes de Beaune produced in a vineyard attached to a hospital whose construction dates from .... 1443!
At the time, the Chancellor of the Duke of Burgundy Nicolas Rolin decided to build an establishment to house the homeless Beaune without resources. He creates the Hospices de Beaune. In addition to its exceptional Gothic architectural style, the establishment has a vineyard from its opening. A first in France! The vineyard of the Hospices de Beaune will grow over time, thanks to financial aid and donations of vine plants.
4) A "Côte de Nuits" on the Moon
The influence of Burgundy wines became such that, as early as the 19th century, the writer Jules Verne seized it in his book Around the Moon. In this anticipatory novel, the three protagonists Michel Ardan, Impey Barbicane and Captain Nicholl decide to go to the Moon via a giant shell, fired by a gun of the same size. When they arrive at their destination, they water their success around a bottle of Nuits-Saint-Georges. A century later, astronaut Neil Armstrong decides, during the Apollo 11 Mission, to pay tribute to Jules Verne's novel and lays a wine label of Nuits-Saint-Georges on the Moon!
