Burgundy Wine Classifications

There are four different classifications:

Regional/District

There are 22 regional and district appellations, which represent over 41% of total production. Examples of these regional appellations include Bourgogne Blanc and Hautes Côtes de Nuits. Appellations at district level would not have “Bourgogne” in their names - for example, Mâcon.

Commune

There are 53 communal appellations which represent 36% of total production. Examples include Meursault, Puligny Montrachet, Volnay and Gevrey Chambertin. The communal or village name may be followed by the name of an individual vineyard, for example, Meursault Clos de la Barre or Gevrey Chambertin Les Evocelles. Many villages have double barrelled names because they have hyphenated the name of their most famous vineyard'; Gevrey has added Chambertin and Chambolle has added Musigny.

Single Vineyard Communes

There are two classes of vineyard within this:

Premier Cru

The name of the village is followed by the name of the vineyard classified as Premier Cru: for example. Meursault Charmes 1er Cru and Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques 1er cru. There are 585 premier cru vineyards in the Côte d'Or and Côte Chalonnaise. They represent 18% of Burgundy's total production.

Grand Cru

These are named after the vineyard alone, for example Chevalier-Montrachet, Corton Charlemagne, Richebourg and Le Musigny. Confusingly, some of the Grand Cru names (Musigny, Chambertin, Montrachet) also appear as part of a village name (see above). There are 33 Grand Cru vineyards in the Côte d'Or. They represent less than 5% of total production.