Beaune

What are the defining characteristics of the wines from Beaune? “I don’t think we can get a clear idea yet,” says proprietor of Domaine des Croix David Croix, bespectacled and thoughtful, who is trying to answer that question for himself. “It’s very hard to say, because Beaune is forty-two different crus, and most of them are still blended together into a cuvée by the big négociants or the Hospice de Beaune. So, even though it’s a big appellation, the sample size is relatively small.”

Small indeed. While gazing down at the appellation in a peaceful breeze high up above the vineyard of Bressandes, the young, ambitious Croix tells us that he recently tried to count the grower-producers who bottle Beaune wines. “I had trouble reaching ten producers,” he says. “And seven of them you’ve never heard of, because they’re mostly selling fruit or selling wine to friends.

“The copious vineyard land here - the third largest appellation in the Côte d’Or, behind Gevrey and Meursault - doesn’t seem too different from the other villages, but for the fact that it springs up immediately on the outskirts of Beaune, the thriving, busy, personable hub of the whole region. This town is the stronghold of the négociants, and they have likewise claimed its vineyard as their dominion. So long has this village been dominated by large property holders, that the ubiquitous Beaune wine is just a blend - a Premier Cru cuvée, for instance - that does little to generate interest or character for the village. Small growers, the engines of personality, are hard to find.

“For a lot of people, Beaune is just a pretty wine, a smiley wine,” Croix said. “You don’t have to think about it. Lunch wine. But for me, there are areas in Beaune that don’t make smiley wines. Where the wines are just as serious as anywhere.” Croix himself makes more than lunch wine, but that requires the time and experience to figure out what each of his different parcels has to contribute.

Tasting notes

Tasting a wine blind and knowing it’s from Beaune is almost a feat of luck. You call it Beaune mostly because it doesn’t specifically cry out that it’s from somewhere with a stronger signature. In general, Beaune’s fruit profile tends toward more black than red - almost blue fruit, really - with a notable earthiness underneath. Texturally, the wines are fairly lush and fleshy, with medium acidity and moderate, often grainy tannins.

top producers

domaine des croix

The aforementioned David Croix made his name sa the very young vigneron behind Camille Giroud, an old domaine revitalized in 2002 when it was bough by Americans. He recently stepped down from that post to focus all his time on his own domaine, which, aside from its mission to revive the name of small-grower Beaune wines, has a nice set of Corton offerings. Ho now also works as a winemaker for Jean-Marc Roulot (Meursault).

Domaine drouhin

Veronique Drouhin is an icon of Burgundy, a wonderful winemaker who has taken a lead role in guiding her family’s négociant to admirable heights. One of the crown jewels of the domaine is their large plot in Clos des Mouches, which produces a very serious wine indeed, replete with high tones, taut red fruit, and an abiding minerality.

nicolas potel

Son of the late Gerard Potel, the legendary winemaker of Volnay’s Pousse d’Or, Nicolas Patel has created an admirable career as a négociant making excellent small-lot cuvées from all over the Côte d’Or, but with great bottlings from Beaune Premier Crus.