In the slopes and valleys of the Saône (tributary of the Rhône river), Eastern France, the Burgundy region can be found. Owing to a complex and varied Terroir and an ancient history of wine-making (possibly dating as far back at 15BC), some of the most famous wines of the world were born here. These are known as the ‘Burgundies’ or ‘vin de Bourgogne’ (French).
Part of a vast, tropical sea over 200 million years ago, the region came to have soil rich in limestone and marl, with the Côte d’Or limestone ridge—which consists the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune regions—sitting at the heart of Burgundy. The dry, red wines of Côte de Nuits’s Pinot Noir grapes owe their complexity to this geology; So too the crispy, mineral, Chardonnay wines of the Côte de Beaune region and the Chablis commune.
Photograph by Megan Cole via Flickr.com. Used through a Creative Commons licence.