Burgundy is a wine as well as a place. In fact, it is many wines and many distinct locales, all of which were once part of the ancient duchy of Burgundy. Situated several hundred kilometers southwest of Paris, Burgundy is hallowed ground to serious lovers of the vine. From its golden hillsides, whose center slopes are so aptly named the Côte d'Or, flow France's most expensive and profound wines. Names such as Romanée Conti, Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, and Le Montrachet among others have been delighting serious wine aficionados for centuries. Yet, there is much more to Burgundy and its wines than a few illustrious names. For starters, Burgundy is the ancestral home of two of the world's most revered grape varieties – Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Clearly, Burgundy is much more than a single wine or one great vineyard: it is a special place, a land almost entirely devoted to wine in one fashion or another. However, what remains surprising to many wine drinkers is that Burgundy is both red and white wine, the best of which come from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir exclusively. With a few rare exceptions, the finest Burgundies emanate from the region's core, the Côte d'Or, which begins on the fabled Côte de Nuits, just to the south of Dijon, and flows all the way south to Santenay at the tip of the Côte de Beaune. The Premier and Grand Cru wines from these illustrious hillsides are worth their weight in gold. Salut!

Pouilly-Fuissé

Pouilly-Fuissé is the finest dry white wine of southern Burgundy. Located in the heart of the Macon, with its massif limestone bluffs and chalky alkaline soil, the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation comprises four villages. Here, Chardonnay reigns supreme on a series of steep hills, just to the north of the ten Grand Cru villages of Beaujolais. All the wine of this renowned commune is white, emanating exclusively from Chardonnay vines. Traditionally, Chardonnay is gently pressed in Pouilly-Fuissé and the resulting wines see little or only moderate oak barrel aging, so as not to obscure the delicacy, elegance, or subtle charm for which the wines of this commune are justly famous.