Making the trek from the Cote de Nuits to Cote de Beaune should not be without a stop in the city of Beaune.  Founded by Julius Caesar as a Roman camp, the city became the seat of the dukes of Burgundy until the 13th century and still remains the center of the Burgundian wine industry.  A single road winds around the city, acting as its perimeter, enclosing a myriad of delightful restaurants, bistros and wine establishments as well as boutique shops.   Try to make your stay over a Saturday as that’s market day from around 7:30AM to 12:30, a festive and energetic display of nearly everything French in food from sausages to fresh vegetables and fruits, meats, roasting chickens, mustards, and flowers.  There are also the classic vendors selling hardware and household good, clothes, jewelry, and more.  During this time, the city closes off much of the center to traffic and by the time you’re finished, you need to pack it down at one of local cafes or bistros for some lunch and drink.

Cote de Beaune extends about 18 miles south of Beaune to Cheilly-les-Maranges, offering a more gentle and expansive view than the Cote de Nuits.  Both red and white wines are produced in this region.  The reds display elegance, softness and finesse yet still possessing an underlying structure but it’s the white Burgundies for which this region is renown,  names such as Batard Montrachet, Corton Charlemagne,  Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet commanding recognition (and pricing).

While the Chardonnay grape grows from Chablis to the Beaujolais region, the southern Maconnais producing more than the rest of Burgundy offering some the best quality for value wines, we’ll focus more specifically upon the Cote de Beaune region.  The villages that stretch from Meursault to Puligny to Chassagne produce some the finest and most pricy Chardonnay in the world.  Montrachet, single Grand Cru vineyard shared by the villages of Puligny and Chassagne, is often the most expensive Chardonnay in the world, a stellar vintage such as the 2005 yielding whites that can go for several hundred to one thousand dollars per bottle.  While the Cote de Nuits has a long history of producing outstanding reds, it’s only since WWII that Chardonnay has displayed its fame in the Chassagne Montrachet vineyard.