COLLECTION REGIONAL APPELLATIONS
BOURGOGNE HAUTES-CÔTES DE NUITS ROUGE
"La Croix"
Wines from the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits express remarkable purity through their freshness and intense notes of red and black berries—redcurrant, raspberry, and blackcurrant.
Straightforward, clean-cut, and refined, this wine shows no lack of balance or generosity
- Total area under this appellation: 525ha 21a 58ca
- Area under production at the domaine: 1ha 20a 95ca
- Soil: Deep limestone terrain on argillaceous marl
- Location of the parcel: Arcenant
- Lieux-dits: “La Croix”
- Altitude: 405 meters
- Grape varieties: 100% Pinot Noir
- Average age of vines: 16 years
- Harvesting: By hand exclusively, hand-sorted in the winery
- Destemming: 100%
- Maturing: Barrels that have held two wines
A PERSONAL REFLECTION
Terroir, ORIGIN,
and identity
The Hautes-Côtes vineyards are located in the back country, running parallel to the Côte de Nuits across the plateau. Numerous small valleys with well-exposed slopes—generally facing south and southeast—offer exceptional conditions for vine cultivation. The climate here is somewhat more challenging than on the Côte, with more pronounced airflow and temperatures occasionally dropping to -15°C. However, the favorable exposures largely offset the effects of elevation, making this a highly suitable area for viticulture.
In this part of the countryside known as Vergy, the monks and canons who once owned many vineyards on the Côte contributed to the development of the Hautes-Côtes vineyards, especially in the 18th century. After the scourge of the phylloxera crisis at the end of the 19th century and the tragedy of World War 1, priority was given to replanting the vineyards lower down along the Côte, particularly because of the fragmentation of the vineyards and the difficulties of working the vines in the Hautes-Côtes. In 1921, the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune and Nuits-St-Georges Winegrowers’ Association was formed. Despite the tribulations of phylloxera and the war, a few growers were determined to continue their efforts to prove that they were capable of harvesting good grapes and turning them into good wine.
Thanks to their perseverance and decades of effort, on August 4, 1961, the National Institute for Origin and Quality (INAO) has acknowledged the right of vineyards planted exclusively with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines to use the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits and Hautes-Côtes de Beaune designations. In order to uphold the quality of the wines, this decree imposes compulsory analysis and tastings before growers are allowed to claim these special designations for their wines.
