Savigny-lès-Beaune

North of Beaune the Côte draws back and opens into an amphitheater around the Rhoin valley, which comes down from the Hautes Côtes. Savigny-lès-Beaune sits at the mouth of the valley, and its very name ties it to the nearby town: “lès,” an old preposition that survives almost only in place names, means “near.”

The vines, between about 250 and 400 meters, cover both sides of the valley and the alluvial fan laid down by the river. Toward Pernand-Vergelesses they face south, on gravelly soils with grains of ferruginous oolite; on the opposite side, toward Beaune, they face east, on partly sandy limestones. In 1855 the physician J. Lavalle noted that both slopes gave excellent wines. The commune has no Grand Cru but counts 22 Premier Cru climats.

Vines are recorded here from the tenth century: in 947 the Bishop of Besançon owned a vineyard here, and in the thirteenth century the abbeys of Cîteaux and Maizières and the Knights of Saint John, the future Order of Malta, held vines as well. In the nineteenth century the village's fine wines were often sold as Beaune; when Beaune became an appellation of origin in 1936, Savigny obtained its own by the decree of July 31, 1937.

About 86% of the area in production yields red wine from Pinot Noir: cherry and small-berry fruit, discreet tannins, softer and more approachable young on the Beaune side, deeper in color and longer-lived on the Pernand side; the Premiers Crus are generally more substantial. The rest is white, from Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc, floral and lively. The available bottles are listed below.