Here is a list of all the appellations under “Bourgogne” as defined by the INAO in the document “Arrêté du 19 juillet 2004 relatif à la composition des comités régionaux vins et eaux-de-vie de l’Institut national des appellations d’origine” (Decree of 19 July 2004 concerning the composition of the regional committees wines and spirits from the National Institute of Appellations of Origin )
So, Berry, you include, e.g., Côtes du Jura, Seyssel, vin de Savoie, Château Chalon, and Arbois, to choose just a few examples, as being Burgundy, too! That ought to arouse some discussion.
Actually I just read the document again and I got it wrong in this document, and I guess that long list are the appellations that are adminstered by the specified regional comitee, not that they can use “Bourgogne” on the label as an AOC.
The document that formally defines the AOC of Borgogne seems to be this one I posted above:
Décret n° 2009-1252 du 16 octobre 2009 relatif aux appellations d’origine contrôlées « Bourgogne », « Bourgogne grand ordinaire », « Bourgogne ordinaire », « Bourgogne Passe-tout-grains » et « Bourgogne aligoté »
Translation: Decree No. 2009-1252 of 16 October 2009 on designations of origin “Burgundy”, “Bourgogne grand ordinaire”, “Regular Burgundy”, “Bourgogne Passe-tout-grains” and “Burgundy aligoté”
Here is one of the relevant passages:
b) Les vins rouges sont issus des cépages suivants :
― cépage principal : pinot noir N ;
― cépages accessoires : chardonnay B, pinot blanc B, pinot gris G et pour le seul département de l’Yonne le cépage césar N.
Néanmoins les vins rouges provenant des territoires du département de Saône-et-Loire et de l’arrondissement de Villefranche-sur-Saône dans le département du Rhône pourront également avoir droit à l’appellation d’origine contrôlée Bourgogne sans aucune adjonction ni mention complémentaire s’ils répondent aux conditions d’encépagement et d’aire parcellaire de production requises pour les vins à appellations contrôlées communales ou locales Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Côtes de Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent ou Saint-Amour, sous réserve des autres conditions de productions précisées dans le présent cahier des charges.
translation:
b) The red wines are from the following varieties:
The main grape variety: pinot noir N;
Accessories varietals: chardonnay B, B pinot blanc, pinot gris G and the only department of the Yonne, the grape Caesar N.
Nevertheless, the red wines from the territories of the department of Saone-et-Loire and the district of Villefranche-sur-Saône in the Rhône department will also be entitled to the appellation of origin Burgundy without any addition or additional comment they meet the conditions for planting and plot area of production required for the wines with controlled appellation municipal or local Brouilly, Chenas, Chiroubles, Cotes de Brouilly, Fleurie, Julienas, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent and St. Love, subject to the other production conditions specified in this specification.
Berry, I think you have some interesting links that answer a different question from the original question. The original question is, “Are Beaujolais wines included under Burgundy wines?” I think they are not included, but I’ll come back to that a little later.
Your map and documents linked seem to answer the question, “What wines grown in the traditional Beaujolais district qualify for the Bourgogne Appellation Controlee?” The map you linked showed all of the Beaujolais area is eligible for AOC Bourgogne. I’m not 100% sure, but I think the passage quoted above says only the nine named Cru Beaujolais villages can be the gamay grape and still qualify as AOC Bourgogne. I think all the other areas, except these nine crus, have to be pinot noir (if red).
Clearly, there are some wines from the Beaujolais growing region that are not labeled AOC Bourgogne. The majority are labeled as AOC Beaujolais/Beaujolais Villages/Moulin-a-Vent/Morgon/… et al. I think it is a leap of logic to say all these wines are part of Burgundy just because some small part of wines from the region can be declared as AOC Bourgogne.
Was having a discussion with a mate recently about Beaujolais and he noted that he felt that in the warmer years the wines tasted like they came from the Rhone and in the cooler years they had a bit more Cote d’Or about them.
Jonathan, at the risk of seeming “entrenched”, your first sentence above is … a head scratcher to me.
Here is the INAO website page with a downloadable spreadsheet with all French wine broken down into 14 regions. Burgundy is one of the 14, and Beaujolais is another. This is the reason I don’t think all of Beaujolais is considered part of Burgundy by INAO.
Here is the BIVB summary of the five regions that make up Burgundy. The five regions of Burgundy are: Chablis, Cote de Nuits, Cote de Beaune, Cote Chalonnaise, and Maconnais. Beuajolais is not listed, is not included.
BTW, the BIVB statistics jive with the INAO statistics on that downloadable spreadsheet. So all the vineyard stats and production stats published by these official bodies are wrong if Beaujolais is in fact considered a sub-set of Burgundy.
A further question is: On these published stats, where is the wine that is grown in Beaujolais but is actually declared/labeled as Appellation Bourgogne Controlee? I think the volume is pretty small, but not sure of that, and I’m guessing it remains in beaujolais on the INAO breakdown of 14 regions. Just a guess.
Interesting that the Gamay grape is mentioned as one of the grapes on the BIVB site with the following description:
“It’s a quite heavy-cropping plant with grape bunches more or less tightly-packed according to variety. The variety which concerns us here is the white-juiced black Gamay which, growing on the granitic soils of the Beaujolais hills, produces attractive, delicate and aromatic red wines (though on the clay-limestone soils of the Côte d’Or it yields only rougher wines). It is to this plant that the red wines of the Mâconnais and Beaujolais owe their reputation.”