Nuits-Saint-Georges is a town in eastern Burgundy which gives its name to the Cote de Nuits, the northern half of the Cote d'Or wine district. Although Dijon, to the north, is Burgundy's administrative center, and Beaune, to the south, is the wine capital, Nuits-Saint-Georges holds its own as an important viticultural location. Many long-established wine merchants and negociants have made their businesses and homes here, and while the town does not boast any Grand Cru sites, its many Premier Cru vineyards are rated among the finest in the district.
(© BIVB / Joly M.)
The town has had its own Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation since September 1936, but has been the source of respected red wines for the best part of a millennium. The Saint-Georges vineyard, in particular, just south of the town, has been known as a source of excellent wines by locals and royalty alike for many hundreds of years. As seems to have been the fashion of the period, in the 1890s the town (called just Nuits at that point) added the vineyard's name to its own, creating the modern Nuits-Saint-Georges form. Puligny-Montrachet and Vosne-Romanee are two other well-known commune names which have been formed in this way.
Although less famous than the longer-established Hospices de Beaune, Nuits-Saint-Georges has its own annual charity wine auction: the Hospices de Nuits. This event, which has been running since 1960, takes place at the end of March rather than in November like its Beaune counterpart. This timing makes it slightly less traditional (November is the release date for many French wines, most famously Beaujolais Nouveau) but actually more practical for assessing the still-young wines of the previous vintage. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the wines from the Saint-Georges vineyards generally command the highest prices.
Nuits-Saint-Georges wines are both white and red, made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir respectively. Nuits is one of the southernmost communes of the Cote de Nuits so the style of these wines is not wildly different from those in the north of the neighboring Cote de Beaune. Generally, they have a reputation for being reliable and well structured, and thus long-lived.
In terms of surface area, Nuits-Saint-Georges is the second-largest of the 26 commune titles in the Cote d'Or, fractionally smaller than Beaune. In addition to covering land immediately north and south of the town, the appellation also includes the vineyards of its neighbor, Premeaux Prissey, where one-quarter of the Premier Cru climats are located. There are about 41 Premier Cru climats belonging to the appellation; wines made from their grapes, and conforming to the strictest of the Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation rules, may claim the title Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru.
