Dezize-lès-Maranges

Dezize-lès-Maranges is the highest of the three villages that share the Maranges appellation, the southern tip of the Côte de Beaune: we are already in Saône-et-Loire, on the border with the Côte-d'Or and with Santenay, some twenty kilometers south of Beaune. The village, with its narrow, climbing streets, sits beneath the Mont de Sène, also called the Mountain of the Three Crosses: 521 meters, two crosses on the territory of Dezize and one on that of Santenay, two dolmen mounds protected since 1912, and a view over the Côte de Beaune, the Maranges, and the Côte Chalonnaise.

From 1937 each of the three communes had its own communal appellation; in 1989 they were merged into the Maranges AOC, which applies to reds and whites and has seven Premier Cru climats; the reds may also be released as Côte de Beaune-Villages. The vines of Dezize are the highest in the area, between about 290 and 400 meters, facing south and southwest on brown limestones and calcareous marls. Here lies the greater part of La Fussière, the largest Premier Cru of the Maranges, shared with Cheilly, and the whole of the small Clos de la Fussière and Le Croix Moines.

Production is almost entirely red, from Pinot Noir, with a small share of white from Chardonnay. The reds are deeply colored, with red fruits and forest floor, tannins backed by a pleasing softness, and a broad structure that holds up well for a few years in bottle; the whites are round, with notes of almond and exotic fruit. The available bottles of Maranges from Dezize, when there are any, appear further down.