The Côte d'Or is a limestone escarpment

Escarpment

An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...

 in Burgundy, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 that lends its name to the department

Côte-d'Or

Côte-d'Or is a department in the eastern part of France.- History :Côte-d'Or is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was formed from part of the former province of Burgundy.- Geography :...

which was formed around it. It stretches from Dijon

Dijon

Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....

 in the north to the river Dheune to the south, overlooking the valley of the Saône

Saône

The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....

 to the east.

The east-facing slope of the Côte d'Or is home to some of the greatest names of Burgundy wine

Burgundy wine

Burgundy wine is wine made in the Burgundy region in eastern France, in the valleys and slopes west of the Saône River, a tributary of the Rhône. The most famous wines produced here - those commonly referred to as "Burgundies" - are red wines made from Pinot Noir grapes or white wines made from...

, such as Gevrey-Chambertin

Gevrey-Chambertin

Gevrey-Chambertin is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department of France in the Bourgogne region in eastern France.It lies 15 km South of Dijon. This touristic, winemaking village is situated on the Route des Grands Crus in the Côte de Nuits...

, Clos de Vougeot, Meursault

Meursault

-See also:* Communes of the Côte-d'Or département* Route des Grands Crus* French wine-External links:* * In French.* * In French....

 and Montrachet

Montrachet

Montrachet is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée and Grand Cru vineyard for white wine from Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy. It is situated across the border between the two communes of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet and produces what many consider to be the...

. The northern half, the Côte de Nuits

Côte de Nuits

The Côte de Nuits is a French wine region located in the northern part of the Côte d'Or, the limestone ridge that is at the heart of the Burgundy wine region. It extends from Dijon to just south of Nuits-Saint-Georges, which gives its name to the district and is the regional center...

 (centred around Nuits-Saint-Georges

Nuits-Saint-Georges

Nuits-Saint-Georges is a commune in the arrondissement of Beaune of the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. It lies in the Burgundy region.-Wine:Nuits-Saint-Georges is the main town of the Côte de Nuits wine-producing area of Burgundy...

) produces red wine almost exclusively. The Côte de Beaune

Côte de Beaune

The Côte de Beaune area is the southern part of the Côte d'Or, the limestone ridge that is home to the great names of Burgundy wine. The Côte de Beaune starts between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Beaune, and extends southwards for about 25 km to the River Dheune...

, around Beaune

Beaune

Beaune is the wine capital of Burgundy in the Cote d'Or department in eastern France. It is located between Paris and Geneva.Beaune is one of the key wine centers in France and the annual wine auction of the Hospices de Beaune is the primary wine auction in France...

 in the south, produces a mix of white wine and red wine. The Route des Grands Crus

Route des Grands Crus

The Route des Grands Crus is the name of a tourist route situated in Burgundy, France.The approximately 60-kilometre route runs along the foot of the Côte d'Or escarpment, from Dijon in the north to Santenay in the south. Thus it runs through many of the great appellations of Burgundy wine, hence...

 (Route Nationale 74) runs along the foot of the ridge and is popular with tourists.

History

The area was settled by the Celts, and there is considerable evidence of Roman occupation in the area. Later it came under the influence of the Dukes of Burgundy, with the Cistercians from Cîteaux Abbey

Cîteaux Abbey

Cîteaux Abbey is a Roman Catholic abbey located in Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, south of Dijon, France. Today it belongs to the Trappists, or Cistercians of the Strict Observance . The Cistercian order takes its name from this mother house of Cîteaux, earlier Cisteaux, near Nuits-Saint-Georges...

 playing a prominent role in the development of the vineyards.

Geology

If the Paris hydrological

Hydrology

Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability...

 and geological

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 is viewed as a saucer with Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 at its centre, the Côte d'Or may be seen as a segment of its south-eastern rim; the counterpart of the chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

 cliffs of the Pays de Caux

Pays de Caux

The Pays de Caux is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French département of Seine Maritime in Haute-Normandie. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs on the English Channel coast - its coastline is known as the Côte d'Albâtre...

, on the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

 coast

Coast

A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...

 to the north-west. The River Seine

Seine

The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

 rises near the Côte d'Or and enters the sea near the Pays de Caux, having passed through Paris.

The Côte d'Or scarp arises where a broad, relatively shallow graben

Graben

In geology, a graben is a depressed block of land bordered by parallel faults. Graben is German for ditch. Graben is used for both the singular and plural....

 has formed as a result of an interaction between the forces raising the alpine

Geology of the Alps

The Alps form part of a Tertiary orogenic belt of mountain chains, called the Alpide belt, that stretches through southern Europe and Asia from the Atlantic all the way to the Himalayas. This belt of mountain chains was formed during the Alpine orogeny. A gap in these mountain chains in central...

 ridges and the Massif Central

Massif Central

The Massif Central is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaux....

. The Jurassic limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 contributes the chemically basic

Base (chemistry)

For the term in genetics, see base A base in chemistry is a substance that can accept hydrogen ions or more generally, donate electron pairs. A soluble base is referred to as an alkali if it contains and releases hydroxide ions quantitatively...

 component of the mixture of requirements for a good vineyard, while the scarp provides the drainage

Drainage

Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...

 and aspect

Aspect (geography)

In physical geography, aspect generally refers to the horizontal direction to which a mountain slope faces. For example, a slope on the eastern edge of the Rockies toward the Great Plains is described as having an easterly aspect...

.
At the Côte d'Or, the middle and upper Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to  Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...

 rocks overlook the Oligocene

Oligocene

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...

, Pliocene

Pliocene

The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

 and Quaternary

Quaternary

The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...

 rocks of the plain through which the Saône flows southward towards the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

. The côte therefore forms part of the watershed

Water divide

A drainage divide, water divide, divide or watershed is the line separating neighbouring drainage basins...

 between northern and southern Europe. On the far side of the plain rise the Jura Mountains

Jura mountains

The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...

, for which the Jurassic period was named.

Comblanchien stone

Near Nuits-Saint-Georges

Nuits-Saint-Georges

Nuits-Saint-Georges is a commune in the arrondissement of Beaune of the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. It lies in the Burgundy region.-Wine:Nuits-Saint-Georges is the main town of the Côte de Nuits wine-producing area of Burgundy...

, part of the middle Jurassic limestone has been metamorphosed

Metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock is the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change...

 into marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

. The metamorphism seems to have arisen from the volcanic disturbances in the already existing (Variscan

Variscan orogeny

The Variscan orogeny is a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.-Naming:...

) Massif Central, set off by the Alpine orogeny

Alpine orogeny

The Alpine orogeny is an orogenic phase in the Late Mesozoic and Tertiary that formed the mountain ranges of the Alpide belt...

. The massif Centale is represented locally by its northern extension, the Morvan

Morvan

The Morvan is a mountainous massif lying just to the west of the Côte d'Or escarpment in Burgundy, France. It is a northerly extension of the Massif Central and is of Variscan age. It is composed of granites and basalts and formed a promontory extending northwards into the Jurassic sea.-Music:The...

, which lies between Nevers

Nevers

Nevers is a commune in – and the administrative capital of – the Nièvre department in the Bourgogne region in central France...

 and the Côte d'Or.

There is a famous vein of fine-grained marble called Pierre de Comblanchien

Comblanchien

Comblanchien is a commune just to the south of Nuits-Saint-Georges in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France.-Geology:Comblanchien lies in the Côte d'Or escarpment...

extending from the village of Comblanchien, just south of Nuits-Saint-Georges. The quarries lie in the Côte north and south of the village, overlooking Route Nationale 74. The stone comes in a variety of shades, from beige to the pink of bindweed

Bindweed

Bindweed may refer to:* Convolvulaceae , a family including about 60 genera and more than 1,650 species** Calystegia , a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants...

 (Convolvulus) and beige

Beige

Beige may be described as an off tan color or an extremely pale brown color.The term originates from beige cloth, a cotton fabric left undyed in its natural color...

. It is not susceptible to frost

Frost

Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually...

 damage and is capable of accepting a polish.

Further reading

A bit out of date, and doesn't cover all of Burgundy, but is still the definitive guide. An updated version covering the whole region is due in early 2008.
Also in the process of being replaced, in two volumes - the book covering the outlying regions is due in late 2007, the Côte d'Or presumably in late 2008.
Forward by Michael Broadbent

Michael Broadbent

John Michael Broadbent MW is a British wine critic, writer and auctioneer in a capacity as a Master of Wine...

, again a little out of date but good coverage of the top domaines.
Good inexpensive introduction to the region, and up to date.

External links

• thewinedoctor.com A great overview of the geography and wines of Burgundy
• The Burgundy Report Good descriptions of the vineyards and vintages.