Getting Your Head Around Burgundy Part 5 – The White Village of Meursault

Continuing on our explorations of the sub-regions and villages of Burgundy, we shift focus to Meursault.

In this series, we’ve covered Chassagne-Montrachet, Pugliny-Montrachet, Saint Aubin, later we’ll explore, Pommard, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Vosne-Romanée, Clos-Vougeot, Chambolle-Musigny, Morey-Saint-Denis, Gevrey-Chambertin and Chablis.

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There’s a quick refresher on the regions of Burgundy at the end of this post to help you place yourself within Burgundy and France as a whole.

The White Village of Meursault

98% of Meursault’s production is white wine.  Whilst it has no Grand Cru’s. It has a cluster of Premier Cru’s next to Puligny-Montrachet and a second cluster next to Volnay.

The Appellation used to describe the wines depends on the variety, Pinot or Chardonnay, and the adjacent Appellation. For example, the cluster next to Volnay uses the Appellation Volnay-Santenot for the red Premier Cru’s. This makes sense when you consider the reputation for reds from Volnay. Whites from the same area use Meursault Premier Cru.

The key on the map details all of the different naming conventions.

Look out for the White Meursalt Premier Cru’s Charmes, Perriers, and, Genevrières. The best-known producers are Roulot, Comte Lafon & Coche Dury. There are many others making stunning wines.

In total there are 18 Premier Crus.

In this video, the village of Meursault is explored.

Some wonderful explanations of the variations in vineyards across Olivier Leflaive’s holdings in Meursault and how this impacts the wines.

Exploring Mersault wines with Dominique Lafon

Exploring Mersault wines with JF Coche Dury

Exploring Mersault wines with Stéphane Follin-Arbelet of the Domaine Château de Meursault

Overview Côte et Hautes Côtes de Beaune

The Regions of Burgundy

The best bit of Burgundy is a thin strip running from North to South around 50km in length, to the South East of Paris

It’s split into three main regions, within each of these regions there are villages which have specific single vineyards planted in them to the varieties red varieties: Pinot Noir and Gamay, and the white varieties: Chardonnay and Aligoté, a lesser variety that produces some fun wines at more affordable prices.

The three main regions in the strip South of Dijon are:

1. Côte D’Or – meaning the Golden Slope, derived from its original name, Côte d’Orient, East Slope, within which rest:
   1. Côte-de-Nuits – South of the city of Dijon and North of the town of Beaune famous for its Pinot Noir. The best known villages are: Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Nuits-St-Georges and Vosne-Romanée. 5% of Burgundy production including Chablis.
   2. Côte-du-Beaune – The area around and South of Beaune famous for Chardonnay including the 5 Grand Cru vineyards and many very good Pinot producing vineyards. The best-known villages are: Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, Meursault, Volnay, Pommard and Saint Aubin. 10% of production including Chablis.
2. Côte-Chalonaise – Mixing more affordable Chardonnay and Pinot that can be of excellent quality. The villages of Rully, Mercurey and Givry producing their best wines.
3. Mâconnaise – The least regarded of the main regions, still capable of producing some very good wines. Becoming a shining light for value with the ever increasing prices of Burgundy.

In addition to these, the two regions of Beaujolais, mostly producing Gamay, (at the South end of the Dijon Strip) and Chablis, mostly producing Chardonnay (between the southern part of Champagne and Dijon) are part of the Bourgogne wine region.