The climate of this mid to southern region is less sheltered and more affected by prevailing westerly winds on the typically higher situated vineyards. Around 200 – 350m above sea level is the norm, whereas the finest Cote d’or vineyards are sited at around 180-240m, with low undulating hills and less fertile, more stony soil giving leaner wines, whose vines struggle to get the required warmth and sunlight to fully ripen. This is where perhaps, a degree of appreciation for Global warming may come into its own.
Vineyard site is crucial here, as is dominance of heat retaining, well-draining limestone soils. The Chalonnaise is part of the continuous fault line that forms the ridge that runs like a spine down the whole Cote d’Or, wedged between the Saone, where soils washed and scraped by centuries of time have deposited in thick layers on the valley floor, rub against the thinner, scraped Jurassic limestone and Permian soils of the Horst de Mont St Vincent and Blanzy Rift. Standout villages such as Montagny, Bouzeron (only for the white Aligoté), Mercurey, Givry and Rully are where the quality lies in the Chalonnaise, with the finest wines produced from the all white appellation of Montagny to the south, where Chardonnay rules supreme. The vineyards are planted on stony soils where heat and drainage give a more bracing, richer style more akin to a Chassagne in a lighter year.
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