Cote Chalonnaise vineyards lie south of the Cote de Beaune, and to the south again is the Maconnais. There are good value wines to be had here. Away from the ambitious pricing of the Côte d’Or, some producers are turning out respectable Chardonnay and tasty Pinot Noir for a fraction of the prices these wines might fetch further north. Of course, these wines never reach the levels of silky complexity that can be achieved in the Côte d’Or, but that’s why they can be such good value.
The four renowned wines of the Cote Chalonnaise, Rully, Mercurey, Givry and Montagny, are named after the four main villages of the region. A more recently declared appellation is Bouzeron, which was granted this status in 1979. Like the Côte d’Or, the grapes used here are also Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, although interestingly Montagny is a white-only appellation, and Bouzeron is only for Aligoté.
The soil and rock types here are similar to those of the Cote d’Or, but the vineyards are more scattered as there is no one continuous slope to provide a solid stretch of suitable vineyard sites, as there is further north.
