Chenôve

At the gates of Dijon, Chenôve is the first commune of the Côte de Nuits: its vines, the last remnant of the historic vineyards of the Côte dijonnaise, climb the slope just south of the city. It has no appellation of its own: since 1987 it has belonged to the Marsannay appellation, shared with Couchey and Marsannay-la-Côte and the only Village appellation in Burgundy to come in all three colors. The commune also contains Le Chapitre, a small climat that may carry the wording Bourgogne Le Chapitre, a complementary geographical designation of the regional Bourgogne appellation.

The appellation's vines lie between 255 and 390 m, facing east to south, on soils formed from Middle Jurassic limestones and marls; here, at the northern end, the rock is less fractured and Bathonian limestones come to the surface. The Pinot Noir red is deeply colored, with fruit of cherry, strawberry, blackcurrant, and blueberry: the gravelly parcels give elegant, supple wines, the slope more structured ones that need a few years. The Chardonnay white is broad; the rosé, made by direct pressing, is fresh and fruity.

Chenôve's wine history is bound up with the Dukes of Burgundy, who held an estate here as early as the eleventh century and in 1238 built a cuverie with two presses; passed to the King of France, that vineyard is still called Clos du Roy and is one of the appellation's climats. The great presses, in their fifteenth-century building, worked until 1927 and have been a listed historic monument since 1934. In 2026 the INAO opened the public consultation on the first Premiers Crus of Marsannay, Chenôve included. The available bottles, when there are any, appear below.