Nuits-Saint-Georges

Nuits-Saint-Georges is the small town that gives its name to the Côte de Nuits. In the eighteenth century négociant houses sprang up here, buying and aging the wines of the Côte, and Nuits became, with Beaune, one of the two hubs of the Burgundy wine trade. Since 1892 it has also borne the name of its most renowned cru, Les Saint-Georges; in 1934 a group of local producers founded the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin here.

The appellation, created in 1936, also extends to Premeaux-Prissey, farther south: about 300 hectares on an east-facing slope and at its foot, interrupted level with the town by the Meuzin valley. North of the Meuzin, soils of pebbly silts washed down the slope and alluvium predominate; toward Premeaux the bedrock almost breaks the surface in the upper part, while lower down the soil is deep and marly-calcareous.

There are no Grands Crus, but there are 41 Premier Cru climats, 29 in the commune and 12 in Premeaux-Prissey, covering almost half the area. For the most famous, Les Saint-Georges, a group of producers has asked the INAO for promotion to Grand Cru. Almost all the wine is red, from Pinot Noir: intense and full, with firm tannins that a few years in bottle soften; the Premiers Crus can age for a long time. Whites, from Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc, are few.

Near the Apollo 15 landing site is a lunar crater that the astronauts named St. George: according to tradition, a tribute to the bottle of Nuits with which Jules Verne's travelers drink a toast in “Autour de la Lune.” The available bottles are listed below.