Regional appellation of the Hautes Côtes vineyard district (dept. of Côte-d’Or). Officially recognised since 1961, this appellation covers 16 communes of the Hautes Côtes district in Burgundy, plus the more elevated areas of 4 communes in the Côte de Nuits.
At one time apparently doomed to disappear these vineyards have undergone a patient, courageous, and ultimately successful restoration. Overlooking the slopes of Gevrey-Chambertin and extending as far as the wood of Corton, the Hautes Côtes de Nuits have a wild beauty. Little villages nested in the forest fringes lie waiting to be discovered. The vineyards cover all these slopes which enjoy favourable exposures and proudly preserve their proof of nobility going back to Vergy and the abbey of Saint-Vivant.
The vineyards are located at heights of between 300 and 400 metres and occupy the sides of valleys which cut into the Jurassic limestone plateau to the west of the « Côte ». The underlying rock is the same as that of the Côte but the overburden is thin or non-existent. The soils are formed by a mixture of eroded limestone and marly subsoil.