Winemaker Notes
The Bourgogne-Devaux family has made its home in the vineyard-covered hills of the Hautes-Côtes since the late 1800s. Winemaker Luc Bourgogne represents his family's fourth generation in Meloisey to care for vines and craft wines from their many older-vine vineyards.
For decades, the Bourgogne-Devaux family sold most of its grapes to other winemakers. In 2012, Luc decided the family should return to bottling its own wines, following in the footsteps of his grandparents who did the same.
Vines are cared for sustainably, following organic practices as much as possible. The age of vines on average is high, around 50 years, and vines are naturally low yielding.
With just a few acres of vines in the Hautes-Côtes and in neighboring Pommard, the family is able to do everything by hand; such attention translates to delicately perfumed, full-flavored, quality Burgundy wines that are a joy to taste and savor.
A classic source of exceptional Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir, the Côte de Beaune makes up the southern half of the Côte d’Or. Its principal wine-producing villages are Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.
The area is named for its own important town of Beaune, which is essentially the center of the Burgundy wine business and where many negociants center their work. Hospices de Beaune, the annual wine auction, is based here as well.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”