Heading South for Bargains in Burgundy Eric Pfanner/International Herald Tribune Pruning the vines in the Côte Chalonnaise. ""We have a terroir that is equal in quality to many in Burgundy,"" said François Lumpp of Givry. GIVRY, France - Ask wine lovers what they would like to see more of in their cellars and, more often than not, the answer is good, affordable Burgundy. Thank goodness for the Côte Chalonnaise. True, the names of the villages in this region of southern Burgundy, including Givry, Mercurey, Rully, Montagny and Bouzeron, do not roll off the tongue with the verve and elegance of the more famous Burgundy appellations further north - Vôsne-Romanée, Puligny-Montrachet, Meursault, Chablis and others. But big-time Burgundy comes at a cost, one that has risen alarmingly over the past few years. Burgundy production was small to begin with, but the last few vintages have been further reduced by various forms of extreme weather. Meanwhile, new wine drinkers in China, previously enamored of Bordeaux, have now discovered Burgundy. This is where the Côte Chalonnaise comes in. The region's wines used to be known for their rusticity, in coarse contrast to the refinement of the best of Burgundy. As recently as a decade or two ago, this was probably an accurate assessment, but in recent years quality has surged. Now certain producers in the Côte Chalonnaise are making wines that can rival some of those from the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits, the more famous Burgundy regions. "With this kind of wine, the Côte Chalonnaise has nothing to fear from the Côte de Beaune," said Arnaud Desfontaine of Château de Chamilly, in Mercurey, tasting his 2010 Montagny Les Jardins. For those who can no longer afford the Burgundy elite, the Côte Chalonnaise remains a great source of bargains. Few wines from the region cost more than €20, or $27, a bottle and it is still possible to find decent ones for less than €10 - an unheard-of bargain in some other parts of Burgundy. I spent some time tasting in two appellations - Givry and Montagny - that are representative of the best reds and whites, respectively, of the Côte Chalonnaise, weighing up these wines against their counterparts from the more famous Côtes. Like the bigger names of Burgundy, Givry and Montagny depend on single grape varieties for their reds, pinot noir, and their whites, chardonnay. The region looks subtly different. True, there are the same stone villages, clustered around a church and a communal washbasin, as in the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune. But instead of those regions" monolithic sweep of uninterrupted vineyard, Givry and Montagny's vineyards share land with trees and grazing land - a polyculture that would indicate wasted revenue-generating opportunities farther north. Yet the essential thing, the soil, may in some parts of the Côte Chalonnaise be comparable to that of its more pedigreed neighbor regions. "We have a terroir that is equal in quality to many in Burgundy," said François Lumpp, one of the bright lights of Givry. The growers that I know in Burgundy - whether they are in the Côte de Nuits, the Côte de Beaune or Givry - if they work in a similar way, you'll find a lot of similarities in their wine. It's not so much a question of the terroir as it is of how you work. Pioneers like Jean-Marc Joblot in Givry began attracting attention in the 1980s and 1990s. The Côte Chalonnaise renaissance spread to other names in that village, including Francois Lumpp and estates like Clos Salomon, Ragot, Mouton and Chofflet-Valdenaire. One of the biggest players in the region, Domaine Sarrazin, also makes good Givry. In 2004, Givry got a vote of confidence when an outsider, Philippe Pascal, then a top executive at the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, bought a neglected property there, Clos du Cellier aux Moines. Now it, too, ranks among the top Côte Chalonnaise producers. While Givry makes a small amount of white wine, it specializes in reds; in Montagny, the entire vineyard is devoted to whites. Production is dominated by a cooperative organization, the Cave des Vignerons de Buxy, whose white wines are good value. I was particularly impressed with producers like Laurent Cognard, Stéphane Aladame, Domaine Feuillat-Juillot, Domaine Berthenet and Château de Chamilly, which sells its Montagny wines under the name Cary Potet in some markets.