Domaine Cornu-Camus
Appellation: Hautes Côte d'Or & Côte de Beaune
Proprietor: Lydia Cornu & Christophe Pertuzot
Year Founded: 1981
Size: 12 hectares
Farming Practice: Sustainable, Lutte Raisonnée
Hautes Côtes Hideaway
Domaine Cornu-Camus exemplifies the purity and ethereality that can be coaxed out of one of Burgundy’s forgotten corners.
You drive along the D18 from Beaune to tiny Échevronne in high summer, passing piles of cut logs stacked between the two-lane roadway and the forest, and you can’t help wondering: Why are so many patches of land here stilluntouched? A crow flying from Volnay to Vosne-Romaneé would only have to deviate about a mile northwest of the main Côte d’Or corridor to pass over the three dormer windows presiding over the modest courtyard of Domaine Cornu-Camus. But reputations are sticky, and the Hautes Côtes remains better known for incredible country restaurants than famous vineyards.
That’s partly down to the dismissive opinion of one Ernest Naudin, whose 1928 book Contribution à l’Etude des Hautes-Côtes de la Bourgogne tarred the wines of this region as light and acidic. But what may have been true a century ago is decidedly different today’s warmer climate, which has lured savvy oenophiles to the Hautes Côtes in search of the purity, immediacy, and ethereality that the best producers can channel from the marly soils, stony clay, and limestone scree in the diverse vineyards of the area.
Pierre Cornu saw potential here in the late 1970s, breaking with family tradition to begin estate-bottling wines from vines near Échevronne. The 1981 addition of vineyards from Savigny-lès-Beaune via his wife Bernadette Camus, who drew from her own winemaking lineage, forged the domaine. They tended some old vines planted as far back as the 1950s, 60s, and 70s—and meanwhile converted a hectare of raspberries (a popular post-phylloxera play here in the early 20th century) to vines as well.
Domaine Cornu-Camus is now run by their daughter Lydia, a trained oenologist with a Master’s in Biology. She joined the effort in 2007, followed a couple years later by her husband, Christophe Pertuzot, who brought both some Chorey-les-Beaune “Les Beaumonts” as well as experience with the esteemed Domaine Leroy. Embracing sustainable and organic farming principles within a lutte raisonnée framework, they take a low-intervention tack in the cellar, allowing the inherent qualities of the fruit and the nuance of the terroir to shine in finessed Pinot Noirs and expressive Chardonnays, alongside a single plot of Aligoté planted between the 1930s and 1980s in a lieu-dit known as “En Bouzereau.”
Lydia has grown the estate from 8 hectares to 12, spread over the Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses, and Corgoloin (Côte de Nuits- Villages).
In reds, Cornu-Camus excels across the range. There’s the intensely concentrated yet super-elegant Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru “Le Creux de la Net,” whose cherry and almond aromatics derive a refreshing minerality from sloping terres blanches that characterize this plot. The Chorey-les-Beaune “Les Beaumonts” inflects its red fruit with the scents of a pine forest. A supple Côte-de-Nuits Villages melds silky tannins with seashell saltiness to lift its spice; and the Hautes Côtes Rouges, each delivering simple purity built on freshness and crunchy fruit. These wines are honest and subtle—neither too extracted nor too lithe, just a total pleasure to drink.
The same goes for the whites. The tiny Savigny-lès-Beaunes “Les Godeaux” parcel yields high-energy stone fruit flavors flecked with fresh herbs and creaminess. From a single, .4-hectare plot in neighboring Magny-lès-Villers, the Hautes Côtes de Nuits Blanc blasts out a soprano pitch of white flowers and citrus—a White Burgundy clearly shaped by its high elevation, stony terroir, and cool morning exposure.
The estate has been overachieving in recent years—just as the market has come to embrace the Hautes Cotes wines for the light-footed pleasures they offer. We feel lucky to have discovered them as their star began rising—and only wish we had an endless supply.
Wines:
Varietal/Blend: Aligoté
Vineyard Area: The Aligoté comes from the commune of Échevronne within a lieu-dit called "En Bouzereau" — the total surface is .5 hectares and the vines were planted in the 1930s and 1980s.
Soil: Clay-limestone
Elevation: 350 meters
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and left to settle for 24 to 36 hours before being directly pressed and fermented in stainless steel.
Maturation: 6 to 10 months in stainless steel
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: From a single lieu-dit called "En Monte Mont" within the commune of Magny-lès-Villers — vines were planted in the 1980s and total surface area is .4 hectares.
Soil: The substrata is dominated by marly formations and slopes are often covered with limestone scree inherited from the cornices.
Elevation: 400 meters
Exposure: East
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and then direct press and settled before fermentation in old oak barrels.
Maturation: 10 months in old oak barrels
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: From two plots in the lieux-dits of “Sous les Cloux” and “Les Vignes Blanches” (combined .47 hectares) — vines were planted in the 1980s and 2000s.
Soil: Brown-yellow marl over limestone
Elevation: 320-350 meters
Exposure: Southwest-South
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and undergo a 24-36-hour maceration followed by vinification in barrique with regular bâtonnage
Maturation: 12 months (25% new oak)
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Chardonnay
Vineyard Area: From 1.18-hectare plot in the lieu-dit of Les Godeaux, which is just above the heart of the 1er Cru Pinot Noir sites of Savigny—vines were planted in the late-1970s.
Soil: Brown-yellow marl over limestone
Elevation: 290 meters
Exposure: South
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand followed by a 24-36-hour maceration and vinification in barrique with regular bâtonnage
Maturation: 12 months (20% new oak)
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Pinot Noir
Vineyard Area: From three well-exposed hillside plots (4 hectares) in the village of Échevronne called Les Pins, La Garenne and En Bouzereau — vines were planted in the 1970s.
Soil: Marl formations dominate the substrate and the top layer is covered in limestone scree.
Elevation: 350-400 meters
Exposure: South
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand before undergoing a 15-day cold maceration with regular pump-overs and punching of the cap.
Maturation: 10 months in stainless steel
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Pinot Noir
Vineyard Area: From two well-exposed hillside plots, the first is in the village of Magny-lès-Villers in the vineyard called En Monte Mon (planted in the 1950s); the other, planted in the 2010s, is in Villers la Faye in a lieu-dit called La Tourelle (1.3 hectares altogether).
Soil: Marl formations dominate the substrate and the sloped portions are covered with limestone scree inherited from the cornices.
Elevation: 350-400 meters
Exposure: South
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and undergo a 15-day cold maceration with regular pump-overs and punching of the cap.
Maturation: 10 months in stainless steel
Marketing Materials:
Varietal/Blend: Pinot Noir
Vineyard Area: From a .54-hectare plot in Corgoloin below the forest line in a lieu-dit called La Montagne—vines were planted in the 1980s.
Soil: Clay-limestone
Elevation: 300 meters
Exposure: Southeast
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and then undergo a 15-day maceration with regular pump-overs and punching of the cap.
Maturation: 12 months in barrique (25% new oak)
Varietal/Blend: Pinot Noir
Vineyard Area: Pernand-Vergelesses comes from the lieux-dits of Sur Herbeux and Sous Le Bois de Noel et Belles Filles (.8 hectares in total) — vines were planted in the 1980s
Soil: Brown-yellow marl over limestone
Elevation: 380 meters
Exposure: South, East
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and then undergo a 15-day maceration with regular pump-overs and punching of the cap.
Maturation: 12 months in barrique (20% new oak)
Marketing Materials:
Vineyard Area: Creux de la Nêt is on the border of Savigny-lès-Beaune and faces the Corton hill. Cornu-Camu's holding covers .5 hectares and the vines were planted in the 1960s.
Soil: Chalky limestone with clay
Elevation: 290 meters
Exposure: South-East
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and then undergo a 15-day temperature-controlled maceration with regular pump-overs and punching of the cap.
Maturation: 12 months in barrique (25% new oak)
Varietal/Blend: Pinot Noir
Vineyard Area: Savigny-lès-Beaune Rouge is drawn from five different lieux-dits amounting to 1.18 hectares: Les Peuillets (its lower village-level section), Les Ratausses, Les Picotins, Aux Pointes and Les Bas Liards— the vines were planted the 1960s and 2000s.
Soil: Stony and brownish-red clay-limestone soils
Elevation: 240 meters
Exposure: East-Southeast
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and then undergo a 15-day temperature-controlled maceration with regular pump-overs and punching of the cap.
Maturation: 12 months in barrique (25% new oak)
Varietal/Blend: Pinot Noir
Vineyard Area: From a .37-hectare plot in 1er Cru Les Charnières (just above 1er Cru Les Lavières)—vines were planted in the 1950s.
Soil: Marl over limestone
Elevation: 270 meters
Exposure: South
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and then undergo a 15-day temperature-controlled maceration with regular pump-overs and punching of the cap.
Maturation: 12 months in barrique (25% new oak)
Varietal/Blend: Pinot Noir
Vineyard Area: Les Beaumonts borders Savigny-les-Beaune to the south and it is situated at the bottom of the hillside on a very gently sloped section.
Soil: Red marl (high iron content) and limestone scree over limestone bedrock
Elevation: 240 meters
Exposure: East-southeast
Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and then undergo a 15-day temperature-controlled maceration with regular pump-overs and punching of the cap.
Maturation: 12 months in barrique (20% new oak)