Sampigny-lès-Maranges

Sampigny-lès-Maranges is the smallest of the three communes of the Maranges AOC, the last communal appellation of the Côte de Beaune toward the south, already in Saône-et-Loire. The village lies in the valley of the Cozanne, between Dezize to the north and Cheilly to the east and south, and its territory measures just 2.7 square kilometers. The suffix lès-Maranges, which the three villages already bore when each obtained its own appellation in 1937, refers to the slope they share.

The vines climb the slopes above the village, between 230 and 300 meters, facing mostly south and southwest, on brown limestones and calcareous marls. Sampigny holds two Premiers Crus in their entirety, Le Clos des Rois and Le Clos des Loyères, and about a third of Les Clos Roussots, shared with Cheilly. The Maranges AOC, created in 1989 from the merger of the three communal appellations, applies to reds and whites, has seven Premier Cru climats, and allows the reds to be sold as Côte de Beaune-Villages as well.

Pinot Noir dominates: in 2022 the reds covered about 181 hectares in production across the three communes, the Chardonnay whites 19. The reds are deeply colored, with aromas of small red fruits and forest floor, tannins wrapped in a pleasing softness, and a broad body that gains with a few years in bottle; the whites are round, with almond and exotic fruit. The available bottles of Maranges from Sampigny, when there are any, appear further down.