Monthélie

Monthélie, pronounced “Mont'lie,” is a small commune of the Côte de Beaune, a few kilometers south of Beaune, between Volnay and Meursault. The village, clustered on a steep slope, retains a château and old houses; the Burgundian writer Pierre Poupon likened it to a Tuscan village.

Once owned by the abbey of Cluny, the land of Monthélie is almost entirely planted with vines, as it already was at the end of the eighteenth century: in 1778 Abbé Courtépée noted the lack of fields to plow, quoting a local saying that here, at reaping time, a hen would starve. The appellation dates from 1937, and the commune lies within the core zone of the UNESCO-listed Climats du vignoble de Bourgogne.

The vines, between 230 and 370 meters, face mainly south and southeast, on stony Bathonian limestones covered with red clays and marls; toward Auxey-Duresses the limestone changes and the exposure turns east or west depending on the slope. The commune has no Grand Cru but counts 15 Premiers Crus; one of them, Les Champs Fulliots, lies right next to Volnay's Clos des Chênes.

More than four-fifths of the area in production yields reds from Pinot Noir, scented with cherry and blackcurrant, sometimes violet and peony, with a firm yet velvety texture; like those of neighboring Volnay, they are known as delicate wines. The white from Chardonnay, far less common, is akin to the wines of Meursault, with notes of lemon, hawthorn, and fresh hazelnut. The available bottles are listed below.