News from the Vineyard: A jogging tour of the Premier Cru Vineyards of Beaune

October 13, 2022

Raj Vaidya

Last Sunday in Beaune, I awoke to a brilliant, sunny and crisp morning and decided I’d go for a bit of a jog. While I often like to run in the vineyards there I have never before really traversed the better part of the appellation, so I decided to take a few videos en route to chronicle the lay of the land amongst the Premier Crus of those hillsides. I often find that seeing the places and understanding the topography really helps to understand the vineyards.

Beaune, I’ve always said, is perpetually underrated, and these vines really do produce some tremendous examples of Burgundy at very low prices at the Premier Cru level. I think a big part of the reason for this is that historically, larger landholders and negociants alike would blend several vineyards in the appellation so many great sites have struggled to gain fame on their own. I’ll point out some of the vineyards I really love and will highlight some wines made from them below. Please forgive the sound quality of these clips, but enjoy the traipse through Beaune…

I began by running from the bottom of Grèves to the hamlet of Sur le Grèves and north towards the Marconnets and Clos du Roi.

Domaine Albert Morot has made some great Marconnets over the years, worth seeking out.

Next I headed downhill between Bressandes and Cent-Vignes (excellent examples of each to be found from the cellars of David Croix…) towards the Toussaints.

Grèves is a tremendous vineyard, arguably the best in Beaune, and great examples are to be found from Lafarge, Lafon, Drouhin and the iconic l’Enfant Jesus bottling from Bouchard. Jean-Claude Rateau also makes a unique expression which is superb (I misspeak his name as Jean-Jacques on the video, my error.)

I went back uphill through Grèves towards the Teurons and then Cras next. I love Bouchard’s Teurons, always super, mineral and precise…

Cras is a fantastic offering from David Croix as well.

The road which marks the southern boundary of Cras leads back towards the Hautes Côtes and a combe, or side valley. South of here I headed uphill again towards Aigrots.

Champs Pimont is quite expertly made at Domaine Clos de La Chapelle. Avaux (specifically the Clos des Avaux) is a long standing favorite of mine from Jadot, and Aigrots (white and red) is fantastic from Lafarge. Below, a pic of the menacing Frenchman doing his best Elmer Fudd impression :).

Past the Aigrots at the top of the hill we get to the Clos des Mouches as we close in on the next combe, and the border with Pommard.

Drouhin makes the best Clos des Mouches, in my opinion.

Heading along the southern boundary towards the Route Nationale, we pass from Clos des Mouches to Boucherottes and Epenotes. Boucherottes contains a clos which is the monopoly of Jadot, Epenots is a climat which straddles Beaune and Pommard (and in Beaune is split between Premier Cru and Villages.) A nice example can be found nowadays from Antoine Jobard.

Heading back to the appellation’s center on the bottom of the Premier Cru hill, I pass the Chouacheux (Jadot makes an example) and head back into the village via Reversées (a great example of white Beaune Premier Cru from Clos de la Chapelle…)

Hope you enjoy this tour of the vineyards, being there in early October gives you a clear sense of why this is known as the Côte d’Or with these beautiful golden, autumnal colors!