Cote de Beaune
With its vinous pillars of Chassagne-Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault, the Côte de Beaune’s Chardonnays are considered the finest in the world. Seven of Burgundy's eight white Grands Crus are found here though, ironically, more red wine is made in this southern half of the Côte d'Or than white. Its finest Chardonnays are known for their incomparable intensity and complexity, while its Pinot Noirs convey softness and finesse.
Learn more about Cote de Beaune
With its three musketeers of Chassagne-Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault, alongside the imperial Corton-Charlemagne, the Côte de Beaune is home to the finest Chardonnays in the world. It hosts seven of Burgundy's eight white Grands Crus, along with a single red Grand Cru. Ironically though, much more red wine is made in this southern half of the Côte d'Or than white.
Stretching 30km south past the town of Beaune to Cheilly-lès-Maranges, the Côte de Beaune has a more expansive feel and gentler slopes than the Côte de Nuits. Its finest Chardonnays are characterised by an incomparable intensity and complexity, while its Pinot Noirs generally have softness and finesse as their calling cards. The best reds come from Beaune, Pommard and Volnay, and the powerful Grand Cru of Corton.
As in the Côte de Nuits, the fragmentation of the Côte de Beaune's vineyards brings the single biggest hurdle for any wine lover, namely the unpredictability of its wine. The human factor is paramount, and sadly too many lazy or unscrupulous growers and merchants have produced disappointing wines from some of the region's greatest names, while their more talented and quality-minded neighbours craft exquisite examples from the same terroir. Happily, quality is now higher than it has ever been here and organic and biodynamic methods are increasingly popular – especially amongst the younger generation.
Wines labeled `Beaune' come from the appellation adjoining the town while those labeled Côte de Beaune (red or white) emanate from a group of vineyards on the hill above. Côte de Beaune Villages is a red wine that can be made from a number of lesser, named villages in the region, while Hautes-Côtes de Beaune (mostly red) is produced from vineyards in the hills to the west of the appellation, divided in two by St Romain. These tend to be light yet often fine wines, especially in hot years like 2003 and 2005.
Prices:
Bottle
£35.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 120cs
Bottle
£18.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl 3cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle
£23.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl 8cs
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer
David Moreau took over part of his octogenerian grandfather’s domaine in Santenay in 2009. Prior to that, he worked with Olivier Lamy, Domaine de la RomanéeConti, and at Neudorf in New Zealand. David now has seven hectares in production and has made significant changes in both viticulture and vinification. The vineyards were almost all planted in the 1960s, so David has old vines to work with. He will soon become president of the local vine-growers syndicat a measure of the regard in which he is held. Once again, David is very happy with this year’s results. There was very little frost damage this far south and all his wines performed well in our barrel tastings. There is a confidence in David’s winemaking that raises expectations for some outperforming wines from this lesser-known part of Burgundy. The purity and transparency of 2016 suits his range very well.
Bottle
£23.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 12cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
Last year it was David Moreau’s “Rousseau” that really impressed me, but in 2012 it’s the Clos des Mouches that steals the show. Forget your preconceptions about Santenay, this is very serious wine, worthy of the more famous villages of the Cote de Beaune. Plenty of red fruit and a wonderful rich mouth-feel, wrapped up in a perfectly judged structure.
Chris Pollington - Private Account Manager
We have been buying from David Moreau since his first vintage in 2009 and are delighted to have found such a class act at the southern end of the Côte de Beaune. There were little bits of hail in 2012 here but nothing very serious compared to other appellations. David chose to harvest relatively late, around 27th September, with yields between 18 and 33 hl/ha.
Bottle
£24.50
Bottle
£24.95
Bottle
£25.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 6cs
Bottle
£25.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 20cs
Bottle
£25.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 2cs
Bottle
£25.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 3cs
Bottle
£25.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 32cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
There have been some changes in vinification this year, making the wines a little more Jean-Marc Roulot in style: the grapes are now crushed before pressing, there is less settling of the juice, very little new wood is used and the wines are racked into tank after a year but still kept on their lees. The grapes were picked during the last week in September. Overall, this is an excellent result for the team at Château de Puligny.
Bottle
£27.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl 8cs
Bottle
£27.95
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
With prices in Burgundy still rising, even if often for understandable reasons, the appellations Bourgogne Blanc and Bourgogne Rouge are great places to look for affordable wines. You get the opportunity to drink wine from a top winemaker, from vines which are adjacent to the famous villages, and which will be accessible earlier. The 2005 Bourgognes Rouges are still delicious and youthful more than 10 years later, but most wines have been drinking well for a few years now.
Bottle
£28.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 86cs
Bottle
£28.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl 2cs
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer
Fichet’s big step forward came in 2000 when he moved the whole operation to splendid cellars at Le Creux du Coche by the Hôpital de Meursault. Jean-Philippe is looking for purity in his wines. He deals mostly with lieux-dits in Meursault with just one Premier Cru in Puligny. Constantly experimenting and refining, his wines have real definition and individuality, with the individual terroirs clearly exposed. The wines are raised in barrel for the first year, using larger demi- muids for the lesser appellations, then assembled in tank. A maximum of 30 percent new oak is used on any cuvée. It is hard not to be infected by Jean- Philippe’s enthusiasm and positivity. Despite being 40 percent down in 2016, he remained upbeat, explaining that he sees the variability of vintages as part and parcel of a vigneron ’s lot. The losses could have been much worse, but the domaine is equipped with candles which protect against frost and they work hard in the vines to keep grass low to reduce the risk of frost damage. He declared himself happy with the quality, but feels it is a vintage which will require patience on the part of the consumer, as many of the wines will be more austere in youth than those of 2015.
Bottle
£29.50
Bottle 12 x 75cl 5cs
Jasper Morris MW - Wine Buyer
The biodynamic Bachelet boys, Benoît and Jean-Baptiste, began picking on 3rd September, reporting very good yields in white, close to the ideal, but down in red. The whites are superb again this year, scarcely showing any sense of heat, but enjoying excellent concentration with good balancing acidity. I would sign up for this every year, says Jean-Baptiste! As always, the wines will stay in barrel for nearly two years before bottling.
Bottle
£29.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer
Caroline Lestimé took over from her father, Jean-Noël Gagnard (b. 1926) in 1989, since which time she has fine-tuned the holdings, increasing the number of white wine cuvées by separating out each different vineyard. She has also planted new sites in the Hautes Côtes de Beaune to complement her range of Chassagne-Montrachet (including nine white and two red Premiers Crus) and Grand Cru Bâtard-Montrachet. Chassagne was badly hit by the spring frosts, especially in the vineyards above the village and towards Puligny. Nevertheless, this is an impressive result for Caroline and she was in ebullient form, despite the relative emptiness of her cellar, perhaps after the fecund volumes of 2017, just harvested. There is an amplitude about her wines this year, which matches the freshness of the vintage very well. Sadly, there is no Masures this year due to frost.
Bottle
£29.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 117cs
Bottle
£29.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 53cs
Bottle
£30.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 2cs
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant, summer 2018
Bottle
£32.00
Case price (Bottle 12 x 75cl)
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle
£34.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 34cs
Bottle
£34.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 14cs
Bottle
£34.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Will Heslop, Burgundy Buying Assistant, summer 2018
Bottle
£35.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 2cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director
Bottle
£36.00
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer
David Moreau took over part of his octogenerian grandfather’s domaine in Santenay in 2009. Prior to that, he worked with Olivier Lamy, Domaine de la RomanéeConti, and at Neudorf in New Zealand. David now has seven hectares in production and has made significant changes in both viticulture and vinification. The vineyards were almost all planted in the 1960s, so David has old vines to work with. He will soon become president of the local vine-growers syndicat a measure of the regard in which he is held. Once again, David is very happy with this year’s results. There was very little frost damage this far south and all his wines performed well in our barrel tastings. There is a confidence in David’s winemaking that raises expectations for some outperforming wines from this lesser-known part of Burgundy. The purity and transparency of 2016 suits his range very well.
Bottle
£36.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 34cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle
£39.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl 6cs
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer