Climat and lieu-dit might seem like inconsequential words sometimes seen on wine labels.
But in Burgundy, they’re heavy with meaning. Let's keep things simple...
CLIMAT
Only in Burgundy
A named vineyard site that produces distinct wines
LIEU-DIT
All over France
A named site on the land registry map
The crucial thing to understand is this: climat is linked to wine. Lieu-dit is linked to land.
Now for the long version...
What is a climat?
The Burgundian term climat refers to a precisely defined vineyard site whose grapes produce wines that have shown a consistent, distinct character over time.
The defining elements include all of the characteristics of the site: topsoil, subsoil and bedrock; the aspect (which way the vineyard faces), the elevation, and the slope.
In Burgundy, even the way cold air drains down valleys carved by retreating glaciers is crucial, as it can impact ripening.
Over centuries, grape growers noticed the differences in the wines, and gave the sites names. Many of these climats have now been known by these names for centuries.
In 2015, UNESCO recognised the importance of climats and inscribed the landscape of Burgundy on its World Heritage Convention.
It recognised 1,247 climats in the Côte d'Or, although there are of course climats in Chablis, the Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais as well.
This rich patchwork of vineyards helps explain the diversity of wine styles and qualities.
UNESCO points out that it is the interaction of people and grapevines with this landscape that produces the unique result of Burgundy wine.
This is the essence of terroir.
What is a lieu-dit?
A lieu-dit simply means a ‘named placed’.
It comes from the French land registry – the cadastre – introduced under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 to better organise taxation by having a register of places divided up by crop type.
The divisions in the land registry are known as lieux-dits.
This doesn't just refer to vineyards. The whole of France is divided into lieux-dits.
And this is where it gets confusing.
In many places in Burgundy, sometimes the name of the climat and the lieu-dit are the same.
Sometimes one climat contains several lieux-dits (for example the Echézeaux climat contains 11 lieux-dits).
Other times, only part of a lieu-dit qualifies as a climat (the Clos de la Roche climat includes several lieux-dits, but excludes parts of others).
While lieux-dits can refer to any land in France, the concept of the climat is uniquely Burgundian.
Simply put, lieux-dits are for the tax man, while climats are for the vigneron.
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