Beaune: The Heart of Burgundy

Key facts

Latitude

about 47°N

Distance from Dijon

about 37 km straight line / 40–45 km by road

Hospices de Beaune founded

1443

Yearly wine auction

since 1859

Grand Cru vineyards in Beaune

none

At 47°N, in the middle of the Côte de Beaune

Beaune lies at about 47°N at the foot of the Côte d’Or, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, some 37 km south of Dijon in a straight line.

The Côte d’Or has two halves. The northern half is the Côte de Nuits; the southern half is the Côte de Beaune, named after this town. The south makes both red wine from Pinot Noir and white wine from Chardonnay, and villages such as Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet sit within it.

Most of the old town’s ramparts and bastions still stand, so the street plan keeps the ring shape of a medieval walled town.

The centre of the wine trade

Beaune is the trading hub of Burgundy wine. Many négociants, merchant houses that take grapes or wine from many growers and then age and bottle it themselves, keep their offices and cellars in the town.

The reason is position. Beaune sits halfway along the vineyard slope and on the road between Dijon and Lyon, so wine from the surrounding villages has long passed through it.

When UNESCO listed the Climats of Burgundy in 2015, it named Beaune as the commercial, research and teaching centre of the whole vineyard system.

The Hospices de Beaune, founded 1443

The Hospices de Beaune is a hospital for the poor founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor to the Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Guigone de Salins. Its main building, the Hôtel-Dieu, is known for a roof of glazed tiles laid in coloured patterns.

Over the centuries people left vineyards to the hospital, and the income from their wine paid for patient care. Since 1859 the hospital’s wine has been sold by auction each year, and the results have long been watched by the Burgundy trade as a market signal.

The cellars under the town

Beneath the old town’s streets runs a network of cellars several kilometres long. Much of it is cut into limestone, and parts date back to the Middle Ages.

Underground space suits ageing wine because temperature and humidity stay steady all year, whatever the weather above. Merchants in the town have kept their wine under their own offices for generations.

The vineyards around the town

Beaune’s vineyards rise on the slope to the west of the town. Most of the wine is red from Pinot Noir, with a smaller amount of white.

The Beaune appellation has no Grand Cru vineyards, but it has several dozen Premier Cru climats at mid-slope, labelled Beaune 1er Cru plus the vineyard name. Neighbouring villages such as Savigny-lès-Beaune, Pommard and Volnay each have an appellation of their own.

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