The Côte Chalonnaise is a wine-growing region in the department of Saône-et-Loire in Burgundy, eastern France. It is composed of five key communes, separated from each other by only a few kilometres. From North to South, they are: Bouzeron, Rully, Mercurey, Givry and Montagny. It takes its name from the commune of Chalon-sur-Saône.
The main Grape varieties of the Côte Chalonnaise are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Gamay and various other red and white mutations of the Pinot family are planted in smaller quantities.
The Chalonnaise Lies between the Côte de Beaune to the north and the Mâconnais, just to the south. There is a Clear division between these two areas, clearly delineated by the border between the departments of Côte d'Or and Saône-et-Loire.
Aligoté is an ancient Burgundian grape variety (it has different names depending on the region in which it is grown: griset blanc in Beaune, giboudot blanc in the Chalonnais or troyen blanc in the Aube), mainly used in the production of Bourgogne-Aligoté, Bouzeron and Crémant-de-Bourgogne.aligoté is a medium-fine white grape variety, quite productive, which gives clear, acidic, fresh and light white wines. An anecdote often says that it was a member of the clergy named Kir who gave it its letters of nobility by adding it to blackcurrant cream to prepare an aperitif.produced on more than 1,600 hectares in Burgundy, aligoté has also been exported. It is also cultivated in Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Romania), California, Canada and Chile, representing more than 20,000 hectares in the world.
white wines from the region of Côte Chalonnaise go well with generally quite well with dishes of pasta, rich fish (salmon, tuna etc) or shellfish such as recipes of trofie ( pasta ) paradiso, whole salmon in aromatic broth or zarzuela mayonapo.
