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| HIP Cellar and Another Place by David Myers |
Of the 100 appellations in Bourgogne, 23 appellations are at the regional level, 44 at the village level and 33 at the Grand Cru level. Looking at the average data between 2009 and 2013 (a somewhat representative period which included the sizeable crop in 2009 and the much reduced crops of 2010, 2012 and 2013), the regional level accounts for just over half (around 51%) of total Bourgogne production of about 200 million bottles. The Grand Cru level contributes scarcely over 1% of the production. This leaves the balance of the production volume to village level wines which represent around 38% of the production, and their 640 Premier Cru climats, the remaining 10% or so.
Regional level appellations are generally regarded as the entry point to the world of Bourgogne wines, and can typically be spotted by having the word ‘Bourgogne’ in the appellation. Immediately springing to mind would be Bourgogne Pinot Noir, Bourgogne Chardonnay, Bourgogne Aligoté and Crémant de Bourgogne. However, they can also be associated with a delimited region, eg Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune or a village, eg Bourgogne Vézelay or Bourgogne Chitry, or even a climat, eg Bourgogne Côte Saint Jacques. There are 4 such regional appellations associated with a climat, the other three are Montrecul, Le Chapitre and La Chapelle Nôtre-Dame. The exceptions without the word 'Bourgogne' in the appellation name are: ‘Mâcon’, ‘Mâcon-Villages’ and ‘Mâcon + name of one of 27* villages’.
Speaking to the audience behind the screen during a live broadcast directly from Beaune, Jean-Pierre Renard, Official Educator of the Ecole des Vins de Bourgogne, said in his introduction, these wines could be described as: convivial, easy-to-drink when young, friendly, fresh and lively, and a festive ring to the Crémants. However, even at the regional level, there is diversity in character and that the style (and quality) is certainly not homogeneous. They are wines of terroir especially the Bourgogne Plus and Mâcon wines. The yields in general for the Bourgogne Plus wines are generally lower than for Bourgogne Chardonnay or Bourgogne Pinot Noir. Production volumes and sizes of delimited areas vary amongst the different regional appellations. Mâcon and its variations are produced from around 3,868 ha. Area of production for Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits is 698 ha for its red, rosé and white wines. Bourgogne Vézelay currently covers about 330 ha, with production of 312,000 bottles. Crémant de Bourgogne, with its production volume of over 17 million bottles in 2015, technically can be produced anywhere in Bourgogne as long as it is produced according to the requirements in terms of grape varieties, production method and ageing.
One thing that I have often found baffling is that the area of production of Chablis is also large – it is about 3,367 ha, without counting the Premier Cru and the Grand Cru sites. The official yield limit for Chablis is 60 hl/ha. For the Mâcon white, it is 70 hl/ha, whereas Mâcon + village name, it is 66 hl/ha. [Out of interest, the actual average yield for Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits was about 50 hl/ha between 2007 -2011.] One would expect that the actual yield is lower and does not differ so much between Chablis and Mâcon+village, for example, especially in the hands of quality-conscious growers. Therefore, I find it interesting that Chablis is a village appellation and Mâcon and its villages are mere regional appellations. It is true that Chablis has garnered a widely recognized brand - the Chablis growers have invested much time and resources to achieve this and that they have marketed their uniqueness derived from a very unique soil of Kimmeridgian marl. Parts of the Grand Auxerrois region also seem to share this epoch of soil, as we were reminded during the live broadcast training. This explained the flinty character and saline finish of the Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, although it was somewhat masked by 10% new oak in an ambitious effort on the part of the producer. However, Bourgogne Vézelay, in the southern part of the Grand Auxerrois region, though on clay-limestone soil, has much more clay than Chablis, giving rise to more fruity wines.
Another really interesting point is ex-cellar pricing for regional and some of the village appellation wines. Ex-cellar pricing for regional wine is about EUR 5-10 per bottle, as we were told during the training. I guess Petit Chablis and Chablis are pretty much in the same range, with some Chablis Premier Cru leaving the cellars at around EUR 10 a bottle for a sizeable order.
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| We learnt from Mathieu Woilliez, Owner of Domaine de La Crox Montjoie, the exciting new development for Bourgogne Vezelay, that of the 330 ha, 250 ha will be upgraded to a village appellation, Vezelay AOC, in 2017, with the balance remaining as Bourgogne Blanc. |
For this tasting, BIVB selected the following 6 wines. Under blind tasting conditions, the participants had to guess which regional appellation each wine came from. The wines from Le Mâconnais showed more generosity, balanced with freshness, in the difficult 2014 vintage, marred by cool weather early season, humid summer and issues of millerandage. The two wines from the Grand Auxerrois region showed a clear expression of terroir between the two: one crisp and fruity with a saline finish from the higher clay content in the soil and the other more ambitious with its new oak treatment and a flinty character, with its association with the Kimmeridgian marl. The Hautes Côtes de Nuits, from vines that overlooked Nuits Saint Georges, showed structure and complexity that distinguished it from the others. The Crémant showed elegance, balance and layered complexity.
Of our group of 20, 2 people got 4 out of 5 correct! And some got 2 or 3 correct, with quite a few getting none correct! [It had to be 5 as the Crémant was rather too obvious!]
Mâcon-Milly-Lamartine, Château des Bois, 2014, Château de la Greffière
Mâcon-Igé, Château London, 2014, Domaine Pierre-Yves & Olivier Fichet
Bourgogne Vézelay, L’Elégante, 2014, Domaine de La Croix Mont-Joie
Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Cuvée Louis Bersan, 2014, Domaine JL & JC Bersan
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Les Dames Huguette, 2014, Domaine Guy & Yvan Dufouleur
Crémant de Bourgogne, "J'aime être gourmande" par Colette, Caves Bailly Lapierre
We took a vote of which wine the participants liked best amongst the still wines and the Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits received the most votes at this tasting, although the two Mâcon wines had their supporters too. Everyone thought the Crémant was of very high quality.
Regional appellations are not a static group - in fact they represent a dynamic image and they work hard to attract more consumers. They constantly look for ways to improve quality of their wines and to generate consumer interest in their innovations. For example, the Union des Producteurs-Elaborateurs de Crémant de Bourgogne launched a new premium classification system earlier this year: Eminent (min. 24 months ageing on lees) and Grand Eminent (min. 36 months ageing on lees, only using the cuvée (or juice from first pressing), and based on Pinot Noir and/or Chardonnay only, plus other requirements on dosage, time between disgorgement and release and minimum alcohol content). This move is to explain to consumers the higher quality wines of Crémant de Bourgogne from the label and to differentiate from standard Crémants which only have minimum ageing requirement of 9 months on lees.
It was hoped that this tasting would introduce some of the lesser known regional appellations to the trade so that they could explore further afield than just Bourgogne Rouge and Bourgogne Blanc for their by-the-glass programme. As Mathieu Woilliez of Domaine de La Croix Montjoie said, these Bourgogne regional appellations are suited for people who already know Bourgogne well and who are keen to explore. Feedback from the audience afterwards seems to confirm that an excitement about these appellations was certainly incited, the quality and terroir expression acknowledged and interest generated.
There seems a two-fold challenge: availability and an apparent lack of means to be marketed and distributed in a competitive marketplace, especially against the better known Chablis or simply Bourgogne Rouge/Blanc. This begs the question of education – the more the trade professionals know about these interesting regional appellations, the more willing they will be to seek them out, and the more effective they will be in convincing the consumers to try something different. Lafon and Leflaive have both included Mâcon wines in their portfolios, and I believe the ‘star’ power has helped cast the spotlight on some lesser known regional appellations that deserved attention. But that has only worked for the Mâcon, to a limited extent. More needs to be done. Borrowing the Prosecco example, a short vintage in 2015 sparked speculation that other categories of sparkling wines could capitalize on the supply-demand gap and make a dash for increasing market share. Perhaps a vintage with reduced Chablis production could give these regional appellations a chance to position in the international market, or where the difference of a Euro per bottle ex-cellar could make a big difference to the wholesaler/importer? However, we must not forget that each regional appellation has its own identity and unique style, let alone style of the winemaker. There cannot be one solution for the regional appellations!
This was a great demonstration of the richness and diversity of Bourgogne as a region, that even at the regional level, there was so much to offer, and it left us all with a strong impression of the quality of regional appellations. It seems to me that each producer will need to find his/her own market-positioning solution, with the support of BIVB, international media and wine experts. It will be a great day when I see a Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre on a restaurant wine list in Hong Kong!
* NB: Of which, 26 can produce white (including variations on this theme, ie some can only produce white, some can produced white, red and rosé), but with one of the 27 only producing red and rosé.
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