A Part of Burgundy You May Not Know: The Côte Chalonnaise

You could spend a lifetime studying Burgundy and you still probably wouldn't know all the wine areas. Fortunately our goal is just to know enough to buy good wine and enjoy it, so we don't need to worry about studying up.

That said, it helps to know a few basic things so you can pick some delicious stuff from this esteemed area. As I wrote about in the Burgundy Primer, there are 5 areas of Burgundy: Chablis in the north; the Côte d'Or, which includes the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, the most famous wine regions of Burgundy; the Côte Chalonnaise; the Mâconnais, and Beaujolais. Of these 5 areas, the one people talk about the least is the Côte Chalonnaise...and that's exactly why I wanted to try a wine from there and report back on it.

I've heard great things about the Côte Chalonnaise, but frankly I've had a hard time finding wines from there. Since they are less sexy than the famous wines of Chablis and the Côte d'Or, and less well known than those of Macon (think Louis Jadot) they get lost in the shuffle. 

The Côte Chalonnaise is just south of the Côte de Beaune but it has different soils and a higher elevation, which means the wines taste different. The grapes are the same as the Côte d'Or so it often is termed "the poor man's" version, but I think it should be evaluated as a place all it's own -- it's not polite to compare siblings, right?

Here, there are 5 communes that make quality wine:

• Bouzeron (booze-RAUN), which sounds like a region for martini loving alcoholics (boozers) and specializes in the less known white Aligoté grape
• Rully (RULE-ee), which makes mainly high acid Chardonnay and some Pinot Noir
• Mercurey (Mare-CORE-ay), the largest area, which makes very highly regarded Pinot Noir
• Givry (JHEE-vree), which is the smallest commune and makes light style Pinot Noir, and 
• Montagny (mont-ahh-NEE) in the south, which is exclusively Chardonnay territory.

The Côte Chalonnaise follows the classification system of Burgundy but it got stiffed when they were handing out the top honors: There are no Grand Crus (the highest quality classification) here. The area did win lots of consolation prizes though -- it has a ton of the next level, Premier Cru vineyards (on the bottle you'll see 1er. This means "Premier" not "one-er" although I like to tell M.C. Ice, my husband, that's what it is for kicks). 

The commune with the most Premier Crus is Montagny, known for making quality Chardonnay that are full and rich styles with great acidity. As a testament to the quality, the fairly well-esteemed (yet widely available, which is a bonus) producer, Louis Latour owns a huge proportion of the vineyards in the Côte Chalonnaise, most from top quality Premier Cru vineyard sites. 

So when I saw Latour's Montagny 1er Cru, "La Grande Roche" in my favorite wine shop I was excited to buy and try...I served it to my other wine dork friend, an Advanced Sommelier, who came over for lunch, and here's what we assessed...

The Wine: Louis Latour, Montagny 1er Cru, "La Grande Roche"
The Grape: 100% Chardonnay

Where it's from: Montagny, Côte Chalonnaise, Burgundy, France

Alcohol: 13%
Vintage: 2005 (an awesome year for Burgundy, very important when shopping for a European wine, BTW)
Price: $17.99

Color: The wine was a rich golden color. It looked almost like lemon-lime Gatorade. I expected either rich, ripe fruit or lots of oak. Wine is usually this dark from age (this one wasn't quite old enough to darken that much), sugar/ripeness, or tannin/oak.

Smell: This smelled so refreshing. Typical of wine from Burgundy it was like water running over rocks -- like a waterfall. The wine had a light caramel aroma and was a little bit like a pencil (I know this because I chew on pencils and they get a certain smell to them -- terrible habit, but good for expanding your wine repertoire!). There was a little honeydew melon thing going on too. Yum.

Taste: It was MUCH lighter than I expected. My friend said it perfectly when she called it a lunch wine -- light with a little bit of acid, some of that mineral flavor with the oaky/caramel/pencil stuff I smelled. There wasn't any fruit flavor -- just light acid and oak.

Pairing: Because this wine is so light, it's hard to pair with anything except mild-tasting cheese with mild-tasting crackers. We paired panini with mozzerella, avocado, and tomato with it and this refreshing and light sandwich almost overtook the wine.

Drink or Sink: I bought this wine, in part, because 2005 was supposed to be an amazing vintage in Burgundy, and that, combined with the fact that wines from the Côte Chalonnaise are a great value, made me think I'd discovered an amazing find. The truth is, the wine was totally forgettable. It was a snoozer and not really worth seeking out. I'm not sure whether I drank it too late, or too early but either way, I can't say I'll be buying it again!

Please let me know what you think! Write a comment below!