Wines from Hautes Côtes de Beaune

The vines of Hautes Cotes de Beaune sit inland through valleys carved in the ridged limestone escarpment, that continues down from Beaune, and crucially, these AOC vineyards are 50-75m higher than the fabled ones on the Côte de Beaune itself. The narrow, winding valleys, orchards and farmland of the Hautes Cotes hide many good wines, and it is here that you can find surprisingly good Pinot and Chardonnay, often from top domaines that manage the neat vineyards in the same meticulous and sustainable way as their more well known appellations.

Yields are still set at 50hl/ha for red wines, the whole region covering some 850 hectares, and the aspect is less ideally angled toward the sunshine. Due to the vineyard’s altitude, the region is often beset with wind and has a higher rainfall and cooler conditions than the Cote de Beaune, so its wines tend to be lighter and more expressive. In an age of global warming, the wines of the Hautes Cotes are ones to watch.