Today the Tour de France has chosen Chalon sur Sâone in the south of Burgundy as the finish city! The city of Nicéphore Niepce, inventor of photography, has obviously been in turmoil for several days, and preparations have been underway for many weeks. The opportunity to evoke the place of Chalon in the wine landscape of Burgundy. In reality the south of Burgundy, represented by the "big" cities of Chalon and Mâcon, has a reputation rather more laborious than the northern cities of Beaune and Dijon, rather typical bourgeois. Wine was not necessarily the most highlighted sector, Chalon sur Saône also having a very marked industrial vocation. Known for large factories like Kodak or Saint-Gobain (still existing), and now Areva or Amazon for distribution, the philosophy has always been to work with the arms, rigorous and precise, and discretion. Chalon has never taken itself for the wine hub in Burgundy, while it has a maritime transport route, the Saône. It is probably partly for these reasons that today all the Grands Crus of Burgundy are found in Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits as well as in Chablis. In Côte Chalonnaise you will find regional appellations villages (Givry, Mercurey, Montagny, Bouzeron and Rully) as well as Premiers Crus. 
Even further south in the Mâconnais, only regional appellations and villages (Viré Clessé, Saint Véran, Pouilly-Fuissé…), neither Grand Cru nor Premier Cru. The Côte Chalonnaise has been experiencing a revival for the past twenty years with a valorization of its plots, a dynamic brought by new generations of winegrowers with, for example, the creation of the Maison des Vins in Chalon, which is a great success, and the recognition of new appellations (Bouzeron, Burgundy Côte Chalonnaise …). Another interesting development: the Crémant de Bourgogne is one of the great successes of the coast, with in particular reference houses in Burgundy located in particular in Rully: Vitteaut Alberti, Picamelot, … 
The Côte Chalonnaise has become aware of the quality of its terroirs, some offering wines just as qualitative as those of the Côtes de Nuits or Beaune, with in addition prices that have experienced much less inflation than those of the North of Burgundy. Foreigners are not mistaken and Chalonnais wines are more and more often rewarded internationally. There is no doubt that this cycling day will be an opportunity to take an interest in the wines of this region, which deserve more than a stage!
