Auxey-Duresses is a wine-growing commune some 10 km south-west of Beaune and 11 km north of Chagny. Access to the commune is by the D973 road from Pommard in the north-east which passes through the length of the commune and the village and continues south-west to La Rochepot. The D17E comes from Saint-Romain in the west and passes through the village continuing east to Meursault. Apart from the village there are the hamlets of Melin in the south-west and Petit-Auxey west of the village. The north and south of the commune are rugged and heavily forested with the valley in the centre and west farmland.[3]
The Ruisseau des Cloux flows from the south-west through the centre of the commune from west to east where it continues to join the river Dheune near Merceuil.[3]
The Auxey valley was one of the first places where grapevines were planted in Burgundy during the 2nd century BC. when Auxey-le-Petit, which was dependent on Auxey-Duresses, was a high place of Druid worship. On Mount Mélian the remains of a large prehistoric enclosure can be found which was at that time occupied by the Gauls and the Romans. During the Gallo-Roman period the town grew and became known by the Latin name Alcius.
After the barbarian invasions of the 5th century AD the commune reached new heights thanks to the monks of the Abbey of Saint-Symphorien at Autun who built a church at Auxey-le-Petit in 696. It was rebuilt in the 10th century by monks from the Cluny Abbey and it had a large vineyard in the village. The bell tower and the gate are Romanesque and date from the 12th century. These monks also left the "Moines Mill". At that time there were many mills in the valley and the hamlet of Melin, another dependency of the commune, inherited the name.
At the site of the medieval castle there is now the Church of Saint-Martin-Duresses Auxey whose steeple is made from Tuff. Inside there are some paintings, including a triptych relating the life of Mary.[4] The present chateau belonged to the Marquis de MacMahon, one of whose descendants became Marshal of France and Duke of Magenta.
Heraldry
Arms of Auxey-Duresses
Blazon:
Party per pale of Or and Gules, over all a chevron inverted of Vert debruised by a billhook Argent handled in Sable in pale.
Auxey-Duresses is one of the wine communes of the Côte de Beaune with 80 hectares of red wines (including 27 hectares in 1st Vintage) and 35.60 hectares of white wines (including 1.35 hectare in 1st Vintage).[9]
Culture and heritage
Civil heritage
The commune has a number of buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments:
A Lavoir (Public laundry) at Petit-Auxey (19th century)[10]
Pierre Poupon, Pierre Forgeot, Paul Devaux, and Louis Régis Affre, The Wines of Burgundy, 9th edition, Presses universitaires de France, 1980, 351 pages (in French)
.svg)
