Two New AOCS in Burgundy

The BIVB has approved two new AOCs for Burgundy: a new village appellation for wines from Vézelay (cleverly known as Vézelay) and a new Bourgogne Côte d’Or regional appellation (for wines, you guessed it, from the Côte d’Or).

The Vézelay designation makes it the third village AOC in the Grand Auxerrois after St-Bris and Irancy according to Don Kinnan of Wine Scholar Guild. (You can imagine how the Master Level Burgundy class responded this week when hearing the news from Don.) Vézelay is 100% Chardonnay. The new designation represents an upgrade from its previous status as Bourgogne Vézelay.

The new regional AOC will apparently include reds and whites.

Both are set to show up when the 2017 vintage is rolled out next year.

Apparently INAO approved this in June 2017, but the decree was just published in the Journal Officiel on Nov 9, 2017. I hear that this was “highly anticipated” so perhaps someone else has already posted on WB, but I could not locate the post.

So, the Bourgogne Cote d’Or AOC is a step up from general Bourgogne I guess? Seems incredibly unnecessary. The Vezelay thing makes more sense if the quality in the village supports the higher status.

Yeah, I agree that it’s a bit head scratchy as well… but I think it’s less about indicating a ‘step-up’ but instead confirming regional origin: i.e. now you know it doesn’t come from somewhere in the mâconnais… as others have mentioned here already, might just be an excuse for any cynical producers to change the label and slap on a higher price

Apparently AOC will set new rules on yields, minimum alcohol level, etc… but I haven’t seen the details.

Makes sense to me. Would you rather have a pinot from the cote d’or or a Bourgogne that might be from Macon?