The Côte de Beaune is the southern half of the Côte d'Or, beginning between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Beaune and running about 25 kilometres south to the river Dheune. The same limestone ridge continues, but the slope broadens and softens, and the balance of the wine shifts with it. Reds carry on through Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pommard and Volnay, lighter and more perfumed than those to the north, and the far south returns to red again at Santenay.

In between lie the greatest white wines of Burgundy. Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet turn Chardonnay into something rich and structured that ages for decades, and Montrachet itself is the most valuable white vineyard in the world. Corton-Charlemagne on the hill of Corton is the other benchmark. Beaune, the walled town at the centre, has been the trading capital of Burgundy for centuries, and its Hospices charity auction still sets the tone each November.