Subtleties of Northen Burgundy

The most sublime wines of Burgundy come from the Côte d’Or, a strip of vineyards some 30 miles long and a mile, more or less, wide. The côte is the hillside on which they are planted; or is an abbreviation of orient; thus, la Côte d’Or means the hillside with an eastern exposure. The northern half is the Côte de Nuits, which produces Burgundy’s greatest red wines; the southern half is the Côte de Beaune, which produces fine red wines and Burgundy’s greatest whites. Journalists who have adopted the wine writer’s standard vocabulary find the red wines reminiscent of cherries, raspberries, strawberries, licorice, truffles, violets, velvet and silk; the whites of hazelnuts, almonds, grilled bread, honey, peaches, hawthorn, locust and so forth.