Making Sense of Beaune

Beaune is the largest commercial center of the Côte d'Or and the home of the famous Hospices de Beaune wine auction. The village has such a strong influence in Burgundy that it gives its name to one of the two great sub-regions of the Côte d'Or, the Côte de Beaune.

Interestingly, though, there are a few quirks regarding the use of the Beaune name:

(1) The commune of Beaune is one of the 4 villages in the Côte de Beaune sub-region that is not allowed to use the village appellation name, "Côte de Beaune-Villages" for their red wines, in contrast to, say, Ladoix or Monthélie.

The other 3 villages that are not allowed to use the "Côte de Beaune-Villages" name are Aloxe-Corton, Volnay and Pommard (basically, the other major red wine villages of the Côte de Beaune sub-region).

(2) There is a small stretch of Beaune vineyards in the hills above the Beaune AOC vineyards that makes red and white wine under a separate village-level appellation called "Côte de Beaune AOC."

When I read about the Côte de Beaune AOC in my Wine Scholar Guild book, I was sure that, given the tiny production, I would probably never see a Côte de Beaune AOC, much less a white one, but looking back at my photos, I actually had a white Côte de Beaune AOC during a wine pairing dinner in Biarritz last year!

(3) Certain other villages may use the name "Côte de Beaune" for their red wines but are required to append the name of their village in the front (i.e., Savigny-Côte de Beaune). However, the wines of Côte de Beaune AOC from the Beaune commune are not required to add "Beaune" at the beginning (i.e., you are not going to see "Beaune-Côte de Beaune AOC").

(4) Chorey-lès-Beaune and Savigny-lès-Beaune are also separate communal appellations in the Côte de Beaune sub-region with their own personalities and requirements.

Are all of these "Beaunes" making your head spin? Have a glass of Beaune (in one of the above forms)!