When your ally tells you she bought a new burgundy car , you probably bonk that means it is a shade of the people of color red . But what if that friend told you she bought a bottleful of Burgundy ? Would you screw that means that she bribe a bottle of French wine ? Considering what burgundy signifies in terms of color , would you be wait a red or a blank wine-colored ? really , it could be either one . It may surprise you to find out that the Burgundy wine region really produce more white wine than ruddy wine . Each year , the Burgundy wine area produces about 180 million nursing bottle of wine . Of those billion of bottles , 65 percent are ironic white vino and only 35 percentage are red wines [ author : Terroir France ] .
You might wonder how large this region is if it can acquire 180 million feeding bottle p.a. . When you see the Burgundy region highlighted out from the repose of France , it is an unusually shaped region , look like a longsighted strip of demesne running Union and south . It flesh out over an expanse of about 12,000 square miles ( 31,500 square km ) in central east France [ rootage : Saunders ] .
Burgundy split itself from other wine regions in France . Rather than being divided mainly between a few large vineyard , the region is divided between several thousand smaller vineyard and growers . Each grower ’s solid ground alter in size , ranging from small to big . This sizing remainder means that some growers simply focus on one peculiar wine while others are able to farm a 12 dissimilar wines or more [ root : Cannavan ] .
In this clause , you will memorize about the history and culture of this region , the agriculture behind the great wines and the most famous red and white wine of the region .
Burgundy Wine History and Culture
The Burgundy wine region ’s rich story stretches back many centuries and involves rotation , church and the government . The oldest written reference to the neighborhood being a hub of wine production is from Eumenes ' Discources in A.D. 312 . We know that the Romans were the first to bring grape vine to the area to begin the planting process . By the time the Middle Ages vagabond in , monks were manage the vinery spread throughout the area . There are records from A.D. 865 of monastic making wine in the Saint - Martin - de - Tours area and selling it in nearby towns . Eventually that wine made it to Parisian markets [ source : Sonkin ] .
In 1395 , Duke Philip the Bold created legal philosophy dictate a certain level of quality and standard for Burgundy winemakers . Then in 1416 , King Charles VI formally set the boundary of the Burgundy part , stretching from Sens to Macon . It was unmortgaged to those in electric charge that the wine-colored that Burgundy produced was special enough to be distinct [ source : Burgundy Wines ] .
Burgundy wine was n’t only enjoyed by the topical anaesthetic in the country , thanks to swap agreements with other European regions . There are records show that Chablis , a famous blanched vino of the area , was sent on sauceboat to England and Belgium . When the French Revolution bechance in 1789 , many of the monastery where the wine-coloured was produced were put down . The vineyard were then stop up into small plots of land , and that ’s why there are so many small growers in the Burgundy neighborhood today .
Burgundy Wine Region Agriculture
The Burgundy wine-coloured region , since it does n’t border any sea or oceans , is turn over to have continental weather . Just like many parts of the United States , Burgundy has cold winters and red-hot summers . However , Burgundy has lots of rainfall during the summertime heat , whereas the U.S. tends to have siccative summers . The land realm used to be an ocean base millions of long time ago – therefore the territory tend to be overshadow by limestone , clay and chalk . The six most discrete regions within Burgundy are , from north to south :
Each region has a different positioning on the country and therefore comprise a difference of opinion in its set of elements that affect making a quality wine-coloured , include filth and other land condition , climate and Sunday exposure . The Gallic call this multi - faceted , micro - climate aterroir . The school of thought of the terroir system posits that even though two wines are created from the same grapeshot , if those grape are grown in different areas – even in neighboring vineyards – the lead wines could be very unlike from each other . Even insidious differences in ground report or terrain can affect the taste of the grapes , and hence , the wine get [ reference : Cannavan ] .
The Chablis region , the northernmost region in Burgundy , often has fuss with temperature . summertime day are too long and approaching winter days unwrap the plants to ice . In parliamentary law to combat the possible damage of extreme temperature , growers have experimented with windmills , sprinkler and heaters [ source : Sonkin ] .
Aside from temperature circumstance and other cardinal constituent of a terroir , the growers of Burgundy are concerned with other aspects of viticulture . choose the good type of grape , cohere to pruning techniques tailor to area precondition and making indisputable to choose the best location for the grapevine in the soil are all important [ source : Burgundy Wines ] .
Famous Wines of Burgundy
There are three dominate eccentric of wine that come out of the Burgundy vino area , and those let in dry white wine , full - body crimson wine-colored and medium - body red wines . It is rare to see a blended Burgundy wine . Most Burgundy red are made from a single grapeshot , the Pinot Noir . And most Burgundy whites are made of 100 percent Chardonnay grapes . [ source : Terroir France ] .
Pinot Noir grapes and Chardonnay grape are not the only grapeshot produce in the Burgundy wine region . There are two other grapes grow in the part . Primarily used to create less expensive wine-coloured , these two varieties are Gamay , used for take a shit red wines , and Aligoté , for making white wines . These second - grade variety become more coarse the far south you journey into the Burgundy region [ germ : Cannavan ] .
apart from the major varieties of grapes grown in the Burgundy region , there are some grape vine varieties that are arise in little measure , just because they are n’t as popular . Saint - Bris AOC wine-coloured is made from Sauvignon and Grey Sauvignon grapes . And winemakers utilize Tressot and Cesar grape to create White Burgundy Grand Ordinaire in the Yonne dominion [ reference : Burgundy Wines ] .
The juice from Chardonnay grapeshot , which is delineate as " deliciously sweet , " is used to create white wines of the Cote de Beaune , Cote Chalonnaise , Maconnais and Chablis territorial dominion . The juice from Pinot Noir grapes is really colorless , even though the skin is purple - black . Interestingly , the Pinot Noir grape vine is used for make champagne , but when its skin is fermented and sue with the juice , the answer is the rich red chromaticity notable in Burgundy red . [ source : Burgundy Wines ] .
