Saint-Romain
Côte de Beaune, Burgundy, France
Rather than being situated on the main Côte d'Or escarpment, as most of the other Côte de Beaune wine villages are, Saint-Romain is located about 3km west of Meursault and just north of Auxey-Duresses in its own south-facing cul-de-sac-style valley.
Saint-Romain is one of the highest-elevation villages in the Côte de Beaune. This has given it a reputation for producing less profound wines than, say, Puligny-Montrachet or Meursault, but with the effects of global warming, this this is becoming less and less easy to define.
On the west-facing shoulder of the valley, where the celebrated climats of Sous la Velle and Sous le Château are located, the soils have a higher proportion of marl along with the typical creamy limestone. This is especially good terroir for Chardonnay. On the opposite side, where the broad stretch of the Sous Roche climat meets Combe Bazin, the soils have a higher content of iron in the clay, which is more favourable to Pinot Noir.
