Terroir and the Côte de Nuits

Abstract

Within Burgundy, qualitative differences between wines are ascribed to terroir, even though the relationships between the variables that constitute terroir are rarely articulated. The production of red Burgundy has been, and continues to be, deeply personalised, and terroir boundaries have relied upon human judgements of value and taste for their establishment; borrowing from Goethe, their existence is testament to the operation of a ‘tender empiricism’ across the centuries, rather than the pursuit of antecedently agreed criteria. Recent studies in viticulture have established how berry composition and morphology are influenced by a range of environmental factors, physical, chemical and biological and an understanding of these interactions further supports the attribution of terroir to the Grands Crus vineyards of the Côte de Nuits.

Notes

See Wittendal (2004).

See Gadille, ‘Le Vignoble de la Côte Bourguignonne’, quoted Hanson (1972: 55–71).

See Seguin (1986).

See Archer and Hunter (2004).

See Matthews et al. (2006). Matthews et al.'s slogan about viticulture: “It's not the destination, but the journey that matters” makes the point that most attempts to curb vine vigour, or reduce berry size are flawed: resulting in vegetal wines. The benefits of small berry size and small crops are only attained if the vine's crop is naturally balanced at these levels.

See Saxton (2002).

See Bonarda et al. (2005).

See Lebon et al. (2008).

Assuming a trellis of Burgundian proportions, that is, 80–90 cm shoots.

The Grands Crus are not homogenous in this respect. Soils in les Bonnes Mares and le Musigny are shallower than those of Richebourg and la Tâche, for example.

See Happ (1999a) Wine Industry Journal Vol4, no.4. Happ extends work by John Gladstones, which he summarises as “the leaky bucket theory”.

See Happ (1999b).

See Dry (2009). Dry thinks we have gone too far with bunch exposure in all but the coolest and cloudiest of climates.