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Côte de Nuits Part 1

The first time I ever really explored the Côte d'Or in any detail I travelled northwards, coming from the direction of the Côte Chalonnaise, with Beaune being my first stop and also the main headquarters for my trip. In this guide, however, I am travelling in the opposite direction, heading south, which was the direction I took - by train out of Dijon as it happens - on the most recent of my visits to the region. It seems a quite logical way to approach the vineyards; once past the minor villages and vines of Marsannay and Fixin, which some refer to as the Côte Dijonnaise, we are suddenly in the thick of it, arriving at some of Burgundy's greatest vineyards. The villages here all have famous names, each one enough to make the heart of a Burgundy addict flutter with anticipation. This excitement might begin with the names of the villages themselves, as each of the most famous has taken on the name of one of their most renowned vineyards to create a new double-barrelled moniker, as if the two were betrothed to one another. And so Gevrey - which was first, setting the trend - became Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey evolved into Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle into Chambolle-Musigny and so on. It is a practice that has been repeated along the Côte d'Or, as far south as the faux jumeaux of Chassagne- and Puligny-Montrachet.

All these villages hide ancient history within, many of the vineyards here dating back centuries if not millennia. I cannot provide a full history for every individual village, but I will try to highlight the most interesting and relevant points. Perhaps more importantly, I will look in each case at what differentiates the major vineyards from the lesser sites and also try to give some indication of the style of the wine (although in my experience attempts to distinguish between the wines of different vineyards, or indeed of different villages, when tasted blind, is no mean feat), aided where necessary with some maps of the grand cru vineyards. What I will not do in these Côte d'Or village profiles is provide a run-down of every individual premier cru, as I think this is beyond the remit of an introductory guide, and I will also not catalogue every grower associated with every village. What I will do, however, is provide brief detail on the identity of the premiers crus, and also provide the names of some of the most famous, reputed or remarkable growers based in each commune. I start, as I have indicated above, with Gevrey-Chambertin.

Gevrey-Chambertin

The village of Gevrey-Chambertin dates backs to Roman times, as evidenced by the discovery of numerous relevant artefacts in the vicinity. As is often the case on the Côte d'Or, once the influence of the Roman Empire had waned other religious institutions began to take hold, and for many centuries much of the Gevrey vineyard was owned by ecclesiastical orders based at nearby Cluny, Bèze and Langres. This remained the case until the 18th century when the wealthy négociant Claude de Jobert increasingly gained control. After the Revolution (which Jobert never saw, having died in 1761), many prestigious sites - including Chambertin and the neighbouring grand cru Clos de Bèze, named no doubt for the abbey - were seized and sold off, and the fragmentation that turned Burgundy into what it is today began.

That fragmentation was, as I have discussed in my introduction, the result of new inheritance laws introduced by Napoleon during the 19th century. It seems very appropriate for the name of this self-appointed Emperor to surface here once again, though, as his predilection for the wines of Chambertin (strangely, diluted with water) has been well described. As a result of this endorsement by Napoleon the Chambertin vineyard developed a considerable reputation, and anything associated with it sold well. I have no doubt that this knowledge contributed to the request, granted by King Louis-Philippe, to append the name of the vineyard to that of the village of Gevrey, creating Gevrey-Chambertin, in 1847. The process continued, as individual vineyards as well the village could benefit; and so a raft of name-changes followed, giving us the grands crus Ruchottes-Chambertin, Mazis-Chambertin, Charmes-Chambertin and so on.

The wines of Gevrey are usually placed at the richer, more substantial end of the Burgundy spectrum. Le Roi de Bourgogne, some might suggest, the wines playing the king to those from further south on the Côte d'Or, some of which have the feminine grace and elegance perhaps more associated with a queen.

Gevrey-Chambertin: Vineyards & Wines

The Gevrey vineyards can be divided roughly into three; first, and perhaps least interesting, there are the wines from the north side of the village, including those from Brochon, a small village between Gevrey and Fixin, which are entitled to the appellation. Then there are those from south of the village, which is where all the grand cru vineyards are sited, and finally there are those to the east of the RN74, the road that runs along the Côte d'Or between Dijon and Beaune. Gevrey is unusual in having village appellation land on what is generally regarded as the 'wrong' side of the road, where most vineyards are considered only good enough for generic wines such as Bourgogne rouge and blanc. All told, including the village vineyards, there are about 370 hectares to the appellation, all of which are planted to red varieties; there is no allowance for white wines within the Gevrey appellation.

No other commune of the Côte d'Or has more grands crus than Gevrey, which boasts nine. There is, however, an unwritten two-tier quality league-table here; the first division includes Chambertin (12.9 hectares) and Clos de Bèze (15.4 hectares). Curiously the latter of these two may be labelled as simply Chambertin, but the converse is not true. Both vineyards yield only red wines, as I have alluded in my brief introduction above this is true of the whole commune, and together they are divided between more than 20 individual domaines. History has it that the latter of this duo was established by the monks of Bèze on land donated to the order by Duke Amalgaire in 630. The origin of the former is perhaps less certain, although legend has it that it was established later than the Clos de Bèze by a vigneron named Bertin, and Champ de Bertin evolved over time into the name by which we know it today. Both vineyards can be seen in the image presented above, Chambertin in the distance on the left, Clos de Bèze to the right, whereas in the foreground (where the tractor is at work) are some of the other grands crus, as detailed below. The vineyards are as seen from the viewpoint marked on the map, above.

The second division incorporates Chapelle-Chambertin (5.5 hectares), Griotte-Chambertin (2.7 hectares), Ruchottes-Chambertin (3.3 hectares), Mazis-Chambertin (9.1 hectares), Latricières-Chambertin (7.4 hectares), Charmes-Chambertin and Mazoyères-Chambertin. A second curiosity exists here, as the last in this list may also be bottled as Charmes-Chambertin, a long-standing practice; together they account for 30.8 hectares a large vineyard which runs right down to the RN74. It is perhaps little wonder that such a site resides within the second tier; it would be appropriate to question its right to the grand cru title at all. Indeed all of these vineyards have the potential to disappoint just as they also all on occasions promise great pleasure. As usual with Burgundy, the best wines come from the good growers, in the best vintages, and selecting a wine using some knowledge of this information is a more certain guide to a good bottle than worrying too much about the differences between Mazis- and Ruchottes-Chambertin.

After the grands crus there come nearly 30 premier cru sites, which can yield truly exciting wines from the right vignerons, although a complete coverage of all is not part of my self-determined remit here. Nevertheless some deserve a mention. The names of several hark back to when they were in ecclesiastical hands, vineyards such as Clos Prieur, Combe aux Moines and Le Poissenot (2.0, 4.8 and 2.2 hectares respectively), each one calling to mind in turn images of priories, monks and in the latter the fish-ponds they purportedly tended (there is some archaeological evidence for this). As for absolute quality, Clos St-Jacques (6.7 hectares), which lies just to the west of the village, is perhaps one of the most notable; it missed out on grand cru status as the classification process stipulated that vineyards had to be adjacent to Chambertin to qualify. This probably gave some of the lesser grands crus an unfair advantage, and inappropriately disadvantaged sites such as Clos St-Jacques, which sits on the slopes above the village. If there is a reclassification of any of Gevrey-Chambertin's sites this vineyard has as good a chance of elevation to grand cru status as any other possible contender.

Morey-St-Denis

Before moving onto Chambolle-Musigny, which is certain to stake a claim as the queen to Gevrey's king, we must make a stop-off at Morey-St-Denis. A much smaller commune than the two that flank it (there are about 140 hectares in total), Morey has never really achieved the great fame of her neighbours, and indeed for many years the wines were marketed under the names of Gevrey-Chambertin or Chambolle-Musigny until the introduction of regulated appellations put a stop to this. Nevertheless this is perhaps a minor and certainly historical point; after all, with four grand cru vineyards in her armament, this commune is no shrinking violet.

The origins of the village lie in the 12th century when it went by the name of Mirriacum, and as with Gevrey there was much ecclesiastical activity here. At the time of the Revolution, the vineyards were largely divided between the Abbaye de Citeaux and a collection of Burgundian noblemen. With the Revolution this state of affairs naturally came to an abrupt end. Nevertheless, today many of the vineyards still carry some mark of this religious ownership, by bearing the term clos if nothing else. Indeed, it was the name of Clos St-Denis that was appended to Morey, in 1927, following the fashion started by Gevrey the preceding century. The choice of St-Denis is a little curious though; many would rank other Morey vineyards more favourably, and thus one might assume they would have made better choices for this honour. Perhaps Morey-Roche just didn't provide the auditory harmony of Morey-St-Denis?

As for the wines, they are charming and perhaps unsurprisingly are often described as a halfway-house between those of Gevrey to the north and Chambolle to the south. With the former having a reputation for punch and substance and the latter for graceful elegance, however, this would seem to leave sufficient room for Morey to be just about anything. One notable distinguishing feature is the colour of the wine - unlike the other two communes just mentioned the Morey appellation allows for white wine, although I admit that the production is microscopic.

Morey-St-Denis: Vineyards

The vineyards surround the village which is small, and which is situated in the more southerly half of the commune. The grand cru vineyards run on the most favourable part of the slope above the village, and are contiguous with the grands crus of Gevrey. First off is Clos de la Roche (16.9 hectares), which many would put forward as the source of Morey's best wines. This is despite the fact that over the years, as is the case with a number of other vineyard, the vineyard has expanded somewhat to absorb several neighbouring climats. Then comes Clos St-Denis (6.6 hectares), the origins of which are ecclesiastical, lieing with the Collégiale de St-Denis de Vergy which was founded in 1203. This vineyard runs along the route des grand crus to the third such climat, Clos de Lambrays (8.8 hectares). This latter site was only elevated to its current status in 1981, and remains almost exclusively in the ownership of Domaine des Lambrays. Although the wines of the early 20th century perhaps merited this promotion, like many concerns in France there was little investment, and it has only been since the domaine changed hands at the close of the century that its potential is once again being realised. Finally in this vinous foursome comes Clos de Tart, an historic site recorded as having been sold by Maison Dieu in Brochon to the nuns of Notre Dame de Tart as long ago as 1141. It remained in their ownership until the Revolution following which it passed through the hands of several owners until coming to the Mommessin family in 1932, who saw it elevated to grand cru status seven years later. It remains a monopole, a vineyard solely in their ownership, to this day.

This short list does not quite complete the grand cru run-down, though, as there is one more site to consider. Although predominantly within the neighbouring commune of Chambolle, there is a small section of Bonnes-Mares within the Morey boundary. With just one owner to this section, however, it is not a huge feature of the Morey vineyard, and I shall give this climat more attention in my account of the vineyards of Chambolle-Musigny. As for Morey, after the grand cru sites there are myriad of tiny premier cru sites, and then village vineyards which run down to the RN74, with just a few such vines on the other side. Some of these premier cru vineyards are undoubtedly of merit, but it is not within the scope of this guide to deal with them all in detail. Nevertheless a list of these climats can be found in the box on the right. Perhaps one worth mentioning is Clos de la Bussière (2.6 hectares), a monopole in the ownership of Domaine Georges Roumier. A well drained site below Clos de Tart, it can produce a rich, characterful wine. It is just one of many worthwhile sites though.

• Part 9: Côte de Nuits Part 2