The villages
The Côte de Beaune runs from Ladoix-Serrigny in the north to Les Maranges in the south. Below are the villages whose wines appear on the Amitié list — not a comprehensive textbook account of every appellation, but the places we return to and the producers we work with.
Ladoix-Serrigny
The northernmost village of the Côte de Beaune, rarely seen on wine lists outside Burgundy itself. Domaine Michel Mallard et Fils has farmed here since 1885 — their Premier Cru Les Grechons is one of the most consistently underappreciated white wines on the Amitié list. The village sits at the foot of the Corton hill, where the greatest red Grand Cru in the Côte de Beaune meets the southern tip of the Côte de Nuits.
Pernand-Vergelesses
A village most people have never heard of that sits directly across the hill from Corton-Charlemagne — the most celebrated white Grand Cru in the Côte de Beaune. The Premier Cru Sous Frétille, farmed by Charlopin-Tissier, shares the same elevated ridge, the same southeast aspect, and the same fundamental soil structure as its famous neighbor. The classification difference is historical rather than terroir-based.
Mark Haisma also farms here — his Premier Cru En Caradeux Blanc and Les Pins Rouge are two of the most interesting wines in the Amitié range at their respective price points.
Savigny-lès-Beaune
North of Beaune, tucked into a valley where two streams meet. Often overlooked in favour of its more celebrated neighbours — which is exactly why it appeals to producers like Le Grappin. The lieu-dit Aux Fournaux sits at the junction of Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, and Savigny — three appellations meeting at a single parcel of 60-year-old vines. The three-appellation complexity at a village price is one of the more interesting value propositions on the Côte de Beaune.
Beaune
The commercial heart of Burgundy — where every major négociant has a cellar and the Hospices de Beaune auction takes place every third Sunday of November. The appellation itself is often overlooked in favour of the more famous village names to the north and south, but Beaune has 42 Premier Cru vineyards and no Grand Cru — a historical anomaly given the quality of the best parcels.
Le Grappin farms two Premier Crus here. Les Grèves is one of Beaune’s most celebrated climates — and one of the very few places in the appellation where Chardonnay is planted. Less than 1% of Les Grèves is white. Le Grappin is one of five producers who make a white Les Grèves. Boucherottes sits at the southern end of the Premier Cru strip, below Clos des Mouches and next to Pommard’s Les Épenots — a site that rewards the same attention as its more famous neighbours.
Pommard
The most tannic and full-bodied reds of the Côte de Beaune. Pommard’s reputation was made in the 19th century partly because the name was easy for foreigners to pronounce — which explains its commercial success but not its quality, which is genuine in the best parcels. The Premier Crus Les Épenots and Les Rugiens are the most celebrated sites.
François Buisson of Domaine Buisson-Battault makes one red wine — a Pommard from Les Combes, a lieu-dit that borders Premier Cru land on a single vineyard road. His maternal family is from Pommard. This is their wine.
Meursault
Where white Burgundy begins to make sense. The village sits at the point where the slope transitions from predominantly Pinot Noir to predominantly Chardonnay — and the soils shift accordingly, from the iron-rich limestone of Beaune and Pommard to the clay-limestone that gives Meursault its characteristic richness and texture.
Domaine Buisson-Battault is the Meursault producer on the Amitié list — and one of the finest. François Buisson farms 8.5 hectares organically across 14 appellations, with Premier Cru parcels in Poruzots, Charmes, and Genevrières. The Vieilles Vignes — from vines planted in 1930 and 1932 — is the wine that defines what the domaine does and why it appears on the lists of Michelin-starred restaurants throughout California.
Hautes Côtes de Beaune
The elevated hillside zone directly behind the Côte de Beaune proper — cooler temperatures, longer growing season, limestone-rich soils. Andrew and Emma Nielsen make Le Grappin and Du Grappin here, sourcing from organically farmed parcels they return to every year.
The Hautes Côtes is where the Le Grappin philosophy is most clearly expressed — wines from specific, named plots that the market has overlooked, handled with the same care as the Premier Cru wines below. The Aux Grandes Raies, featured by Eric Asimov in The New York Times, comes from a lieu-dit of limestone marl studded with fossils at the top of the slope.
Saint-Romain
A small village tucked into a valley between Volnay and Meursault — one of the most scenically dramatic settings on the Côte de Beaune, with the village sitting beneath a ruined medieval castle. Mark Haisma farms the lieu-dit Le Jarron here — a white wine that consistently overperforms at its price.
Understanding the classification
Burgundy’s appellation system can be confusing at first. Here’s the hierarchy specific to the Côte de Beaune:
Bourgogne AOC — the broadest appellation, covering all of Burgundy. A Bourgogne Blanc from Meursault fruit is still technically a Bourgogne, but in the hands of a producer like Buisson-Battault it reflects the terroir of the village.
Village AOC — wines labelled with the village name: Meursault, Beaune, Pommard, Savigny-lès-Beaune. This is where most of the Amitié range sits.
Premier Cru — the 1er Cru designation appears on wines from specific named vineyards (climates) within a village that have been classified as superior. Meursault Poruzots, Beaune Boucherottes, Pernand-Vergelesses Sous Frétille — all Premier Crus.
Grand Cru — the highest classification, reserved for a small number of exceptional vineyards with their own AOC. In the Côte de Beaune: Corton and Corton-Charlemagne (Aloxe-Corton/Pernand-Vergelesses), and the Montrachet group in the south. Beaune has no Grand Crus — which is one of wine’s persistent injustices.
