I might as well say it as it is, no wine, has at any moment been able to touch me, as when I tasted my first Chambolle-Musigny.

Burgundy is for me, the only place where you’ll really need to spend time, researching the given winemaker, as well as the local terroir. You can be quite disappointed when you really feel like you’ve made a bargain on a bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin, until you discover that it’s made from young vines, which results in a very light and feminine version of Gevrey.

If I have to say something short and precise about Burgundy, it must be that you can find silky reds, masculine reds, crisp, fresh and oaky whites. So, you have everything gathered in one place.

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Not only do you find the world’s best wines here, but the gastronomy is also the finest. France’s best cheeses, the world’s best poultry, snails, frogs and truffles. What’s not to like?

Sit back and pour yourself a glass of Burgundy. At least I did when I wrote this.

History

It was the monks who did it.

The first archaeological evidence of viticulture in Burgundy dates to the 100s AD. A Celtic god depicted on a tombstone in a church located in the Côte de Nuits, holding a vine in his hand. However, it is likely that the Celts, several hundred years before, started growing wine in Burgundy. The first written sources concerning wine are from 312 AD. Here it is written to Emperor Constantine the Great, about neglected and abandoned vineyards with roots so deep and tangled that one must be able to conclude that viticulture was already well established here. Historically, the church and the monks have played a major role in Burgundy.

In 587 a vineyard was donated to the monastery of St. Benignus in Dijon, this was the beginning of a long course of monastic wisdom, industriousness, green fingers, and the down writing of knowledge.

In 630 even more vineyards were donated, this time to the monastery ‘Bèze’, which to this day, still bears the name of a somewhat well-known grand cru “Clos de Bèze”. The Benedictine monks, who had their headquarters in Mâcon, became the first order to organize viticulture on a larger scale. In the period between 927 and 1157, the organization grew so large that they had hundreds of sub-priorities (i.e. several, “eternally” stamped life works) behind them. Not just in France but in the rest of Western Europe. It was not long before they owned all the vineyards in and around Gevrey.

In 1232, the Duchess of Burgundy donated to the abbey of Saint Vivant the fields now known as Romanée-Conti, La Romanée, La Tâche, Richebourg and Romanée-St-Vivant.

In 1098, the second great order of monks, which was to have great significance for Burgundy, was founded, the Cistercians. They also received vineyards as a gift, but it did not take them long before choosing to buy vineyards themselves. The very big difference between these two orders was that unlike the Benedictine Monks who enjoyed a lot of the wine themselves, the future-oriented Cistercians made themselves large, wealthy landowners.

It can be said that the monks in the Middle Ages were the first to put the wine into order, they kept records of the various vineyards, and what these had in character and expression. In short, they had an in-depth knowledge of terroir. In addition, they had the advantage, unlike so many others, of their cool monastery cellars to store the wine in.

Burgundy flourished through the Middle Ages and quickly became a local status symbol until the 18th century. Here, better infrastructure was established, this enabled the formation of negotiators who began to export the wine.

In the late 18th century, land holdings changed radically. Where it was previously reserved for the church and the nobility to own vineyards, now everybody could start making wine. This is the main reason why the properties to this day, still appear fragmented, i.e., divided into smaller fractures.

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The wine lice hit in the 1870s, ravaging most of Europe’s wine production. Where other wine producing countries, were saved using American roots. Unfortunately for Burgundy, it was forbidden to change the root system of a vine, until the 1890s.

Terroir

Everything is connected.

One of the main elements of Burgundy is Terroir. You cannot avoid having to immerse yourself in it, write about it, and taste it yourself. Most Burgundian wine growers believe that they aren’t making wine, but simply help the terroir express itself. This is fascinating because, in my opinion, they are right. The work in the field, the harvest, the cellar work, etc. of course counts for a lot, but basically it all comes down to the terroir.

If you take a normal municipal vineyard, the vines are at risk getting too much water because they may be standing on a soil that is not ideal for draining the water away. The sun exposure is too strong, the vines are too young, etc.

If, on the other hand, you take a first cru or grand cru, they are, as previously mentioned, most often located in the middle of the slope, this ensures that they do not have too much or too little sun, but that the morning sunshine can keep the fields warm all day, and the amount of water becomes adequate due to water, is always seeking downwards. The soil must be said to be the big player!

The composition of the Côte d’Or is complex and is the main reason why you can create such characterful and different wines, even using the same grapes. It is the difference between getting a feminine light and elegant Chambolle, or a dark and masculine Pommard, which suddenly has red ferrous soils. Common, however, is that the whole Côte d’Or is located along an important geographical point. This consists of ancient layers of seabed, from several different geological periods, all rich in limestone from deceased shellfish. No matter where you dig in the soil, it’s never the same, but they are all mixed in different ways, in different layers. This is the reason why there can be such a great variety in the wines of Burgundy, and exactly why I hold it so dearly.