Burgundy

Question 1

How many hectares does Chablis and the Grand Auxerrois produce?

Answer 1

6,148 ha

Question 2

How many hectares does Cote de Nuits produce?

Answer 2

2,607 ha

Question 3

How many hectares does Cote de Beaune produce?

Answer 3

4,703 ha

Question 4

How many hectares does the Cote Chalonnaise produce?

Answer 4

2,197 ha

Question 5

How many hectares does he Maconnais produce?

Answer 5

5,767 ha

Question 6

How many hectares does Beaujolais produce?

Answer 6

16,947 ha

Question 7

What region in Burgundy produces the most wine?

Answer 7

Chablis and smaller outlying appellations.

Question 8

What is the most planted grape in Burgundy?

Answer 8

Chardonnay at 15,233 ha

Question 9

What is the second most planted grape in Burgundy?

Answer 9

Pinot Noir at 10,634 ha

Question 10

What two grapes are the parents of Chardonnay?

Answer 10

Pinot x Gouais Blanc

Question 11

Cot de Beaune and Cote de Nuits produce mainly what kind of wine?

Answer 11

Pinot Noir.

Question 12

Bourgogne Aligote AOP wine are like?

Answer 12

Bourgogne Aligote AOP is a separate appellation for varietal wines produced solely from the white Aligoté grape. Wines from the appellation are often—but not always—simple and refreshing, and the grape frequently exhibits high acidity. In Burgundy, the wine is usually drank as an apéritif, or combined with crème de cassis as the classic base for a Kir cocktail.

Question 13

Which two Burgundy AOP are considered the top inequality for the premier cru?

Answer 13

Chablis and Cote de Chalonnais.Premier cru vineyards in the Côte d’Or, in Chablis, and in four appellations of the Côte Chalonnaise have been singled out for superior potential quality, and they are subject to tighter restrictions on yield, must weight, and minimum potential alcohol than the village AOPs.

Question 14

Can premier cru vineyards be blended with in the designated AOP?

Answer 14

Yes! As these vineyards are technically geographical designations appended onto the village AOPs rather than separate, distinct AOPs themselves, one can blend fruit from different premier cru parcels within the same village and still use the term premier cru, sans actual vineyard name, on the label. In some instances, smaller premier cru vineyards may be grouped together into larger ones, and a producer may have the option to choose which vineyard name he/she prefers. In Chablis and Chassagne-Montrachet this is especially common.

Question 15

In Burgundy, what does monopole mean?

Answer 15

A premier cru vineyard may be under single ownership—a monopole—and therefore only one producer will make the wine, but far more commonly multiple producers will own sections of a single vineyard, and each bottle small lots of the wine.

Question 16

In Burgundy, what does CLOS mean?

Answer 16

A clos indicates a vineyard enclosed within a stone wall. While there is temptation to assume that these walls were built with foresight of the vineyard’s exactingly prime location, they are basically medieval fences, originally erected to keep animals away from the vines. Today, Clos de Vougeot is the largest and most famous example. In some, like Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, the walls have long since fallen but the name remains.

Question 17

In Burgundy, what does Parcel mean?

Answer 17

A parcel is a single contiguous holding within a vineyard, owned entirely by one grower. Often, domaines may hold several different parcels in the same climat; for instance, Domaine Leflaive owns three separate parcels in the grand cru Bâtard-Montrachet.

Question 18

In Burgundy, what does Cru mean?

Answer 18

An imprecise term, cru is used both to denote quality and to indicate a delimited place; depending on the region and the wine in question the term can carry legal weight or simply evoke popular meaning. Cru derives from croître (“to grow”), but in Burgundy its use since the late 1500s has seemingly been to indicate high quality. Today, the term is generally reserved for use in the manner laid out in the AOC system, defining certain vineyard areas as premier cru or grand cru. As noted above, cru designations and climat boundaries do not always neatly overlap.

Question 19

In Burgundy, what does Lieu-dit mean?

Answer 19

Nearly synonymous with climat, a lieu-dit is a named single vineyard, and forms one contiguous parcel within a single commune. Frequently, the names of lieux-dits recall historic uses of the land or former owners. In The Wines of Burgundy, 12th ed. authors Sylvain Pitiot and Jean-Charles Servant distinguish between the two related terms: “You could say that the lieu-dit is a technical cadastral unit used by geographers, while the climat is a vigneron’s notion.” Sommeliers pay special attention to the names of the grand cru and premier cru vineyards, but even village and regional AOP vineyard land is parceled into lieux-dits. Producers in Marsannay and Meursault commonly label village AOP wines by lieu-dit, and other examples of lieu-dit labeling occur throughout the Côte d’Or, even for Bourgogne AOP wines.

Question 20

In Burgundy what does Climat mean?

Answer 20

A Burgundian term used to denote “a parcel of vines defined and named to be associated with the wines it produces”; in other words, a single vineyard in Burgundy. But the modern meaning goes a little deeper: as its homonym le climat—also “climate”—signals, the climats of Burgundy draw from the notion of terroir, and become tracts of land whose wines are shaped not only by location, but by other environmental and manmade conditions particular to the vineyard. As described below, the mosaic of climats evolved over hundreds of years, and the modern boundaries of grand cru, premier cru, village, and régionale vineyard land does not always neatly fit with the named, defined climats themselves. For instance, the single climat of Monts Luisants in Morey-Saint-Denis is divided into tracts classified as Morey-Saint-Denis AOP, Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru, and Clos de la Roche Grand Cru AOP. In other cases, there are multiple climats within a single classified Premier Cru or Grand Cru. The word climat has been regulated by the INAO for use throughout Burgundy since 1935. There are over 1,200 climats in Burgundy today.

Question 21

What are the two IGP’s in the Cote d’Or?

Answer 21

Coteaux de l’Auxois and Sainte-Marie-la-Blanche

Question 22

What part of the Cote d’Or does Coteaux de l’Auxois cover?

Answer 22

The Coteaux de l’Auxois IGP covers much of the Côte d’Or département north and west of the Hautes-Côtes appellations and does not overlap any AOPs of the Côte d’Or.

Question 23

What part of the Cote d’Or does Sainte-Marie-la-Blanche cover?

Answer 23

Sainte-Marie-la-Blanche IGP is a much smaller appellation; it sits to the east of the D974 and the Côte de Beaune. It is adjacent to Bourgogne AOP, but they do not overlap. Thus, there is no IGP that covers the actual Côte d’Or winegrowing region.

Question 24

In Burgundy, what was once Clos de Cinq Journaux, is now?

Answer 24

Romanée-Conti

Question 25

What doesLutte Raisonnée / Lutte Intégrée mean?

Answer 25

Lutte Raisonnée / Lutte Intégrée means the reasoned struggle. It is a method of allying chemical to the vineyard only when necessary. It is considered a sustainable practice. Instead of chemical pesticides it uses such things as sulfur spray, cover crop, to reduce errosin and pheromones to confuse pests from breading.

Question 26

Who was the first producer in the Cote d’Or to use Biodynamic Viticulture?

Answer 26

Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau in 1979. It gained popularity in the 1980s with other producers.

Question 27

What were difficult vintages in Burgundy?

Answer 27

2007, 2011, 2012

Question 28

What is the most challenging disease in Burgundy right now? And how is it being spread?

Answer 28

Leafhopper insects spread the bacteria from vine to vine; growth slows, berries shrivel, leaves yellow, and the vine itself may die.

Question 29

How is leafhopper being treated in Burgundy? And what role did the French government play?

Answer 29

Currently there is no cure beyond uprooting the vine and starting anew. While it first appeared in Burgundy in 2004, a major outbreak in the northern Mâconnais in 2011 triggered alarms. French agricultural officials mounted a counterstrike, which—among other preventative measures—required vignerons in areas with large leafhopper populations to apply a synthetic insecticide. One biodynamic producer in the Côte de Beaune, Emmanuel Giboulot, gained notoriety for publicly refusing to spray synthetic material, and was prosecuted by the government. The resulting fine, while small, raised significant questions about government’s role in future outbreaks of dangerous vineyard diseases—could another phylloxera be successfully contained if each grower is left to his or her own preferences?

Question 30

In Chablis, which vintages were almost wiped out due to frost?

Answer 30

1945, 1951, 1953, and 1957

Question 31

What is vignerons? What are the positive and negative effects?

Answer 31

ith this technique, vignerons spray vines with water, and hope to protect delicate spring buds in a cocoon of ice, which prevents the temperature inside from plummeting further. But aspersion has its drawbacks, too: water must be applied constantly when the temperature dips below freezing, and blocked/frozen pipes can pose a real challenge. The volume of water increases the humidity around the vines, which may cause frost to linger. And on a windy day, one might end up protecting a neighbor’s vines rather than his/her own!

Question 32

What are smudging pots? And when did they first appear?

Answer 32

Chaufferettes (diesel-burning smudge pots, designed to heat the vines at night) first appeared in Chablis vineyards in the 1950s, but the cost of fuel—both to the vigneron and to the environment—remains high.

Question 33

What was the warmest vintage in Chablis?

Answer 33

2003

Question 34

In the Cote d’Or, which vintages say 50% loss from hail damage?

Answer 34

2012, 2013, and 2014

Question 35

What Diseases sometimes have positive effects on wine?

Answer 35

Coulure (shatter) and millerandage (uneven fruit set). Both conditions impact yield considerably: the first reduces the overall number of berries and the second creates clusters of “hens and chicks,” or unevenly sized berries. Millerandage, however, may sometimes increase quality in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir—some winemakers like the increased phenolic character and concentration provided by smaller berries, if conditions are right.