Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The Burgundy Region
9.4
Location, Climate, and Geology
The vineyards of Burgundy (Bourgogne) extend along the eastern escarpment and
footslopes of the Massif Central from Dijon in the north to Lyon in the south.
The best slopes face the east, southeast, and south, overlooking the valley of the
Saône. The climate is continental, with an average rainfall of 700 mm and a range
from 450-950 mm within the region. The three main subregions are the Côte
d'Or, Mâconnais, and Beaujolais (fig. 9.5). North of Mâcon, the underlying rocks
are hard limestones, interbedded with softer limestones and marl (a mixed, frag-
mented limestone-clay deposit) of Jurassic age. South of Mâcon, in Beaujolais, the
rocks are mainly granite, which, as it was intruded through the overlying volcanic
lavas and ash, metamorphosed these rocks to form schists (Wilson 1998). The es-
carpment, which is between 225 and 350 m high, is formed by a major fault line
that trends mainly north-south. This fault is crossed in several places by minor
9.4.1
Map of the geology of the Burgundy region (redrawn from Wilson 1998).
Figure 9.5
0
20 miles
Avallon
Dijon
0
30 km
Vezelay
Hautes Cotes
^
Cote de
Nuits
Nuits-St.-
Georges
+
Citeaux
^
^
Dole
Cote d'Or
^
Beaune
Morvan
St.-Romain
^
Cote de Beaune
La Rochepot
Santenay
Poligny
Autun
M
e
rcurey
Chalonnais
Cotes du Jura
N
^
Chalon-sur-Saone
Lons-le-Saunier
^
Saone
Graben
Vire
J u r a
Cluny
+
Maconnais
Quaternary valley fill
Jurassic
Permian
Old Paleozoie
Macon
Charollais
volcanic tuffs
Haut-Beaujolais
Belleville
Granites and other
crystalline rocks
Appellation district
boundaries along
Saone graben
essentially coincident
with Saone fault zone
Paris
Area of
detail
^
Villefranche
^
Bas-Beaujolais
F R A N C E
^
Saone fault zone
Monasteries
^
R
hon
e
Lyon
