Clos de Vougeot

The Clos de Vougeot is the most famous vineyard in Burgundy and one of the most historic in France, a walled enclosure of about fifty hectares of vines on the slope of the Côte de Nuits, with a Renaissance château at its centre. It lies in the village of Vougeot, between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin along the Route des Grands Crus, around twenty kilometres north of Beaune. The wall that gives the vineyard its name, a clos, still encloses the vines, and the vineyard has kept its boundaries since the Middle Ages.

The story begins with the Cistercian monks of Cîteaux Abbey, a few kilometres away, who received land at Vougeot in the early twelfth century and began planting vines. Over the following centuries they added to the holding, built the wall, and developed a wine press and cellar so that the grapes could be pressed on the spot. The monks were meticulous observers of the soil, and their work helped to establish the idea that particular plots of land produce distinctive wines, which became the basis of Burgundy's system of classification. The Cistercians held the Clos until the French Revolution, when it was confiscated and sold, and today it is divided among many owners, each with a small share of the vines.

The château was built in the sixteenth century by the abbot of Cîteaux in a Renaissance style, and it houses the vast medieval buildings of the monks' wine making. The Cellier, the old cellar, and the Cuverie contain four huge wooden presses from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, some of the most impressive examples of their kind, which required several men to operate. Walking around them gives a sense of the scale of monastic wine production. The great hall and the kitchens add to the picture of monastic life.

Since 1934 the château has been the headquarters of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, a brotherhood devoted to promoting Burgundy wines, and it hosts their celebrated dinners, the Chapitres, in which new members are inducted in red and gold robes. The château can be visited on a self-guided route or on a guided tour, and tours are available in English at set times. Opening hours vary with the season, so check before travelling. A legend, repeated by locals, says that Napoleonic regiments passing the Clos would present arms in tribute to the vineyard, an order attributed to a colonel in the early nineteenth century.

The Clos is a good stop for a wine route. The villages of Vosne-Romanée, Chambolle-Musigny and Gevrey-Chambertin, each with famous names, are a short drive or cycle ride away, and Beaune's Hospices, its cellars and its museums are about half an hour from here. The visit suits wine enthusiasts, history lovers and anyone driving the Route des Grands Crus. Pairing it with a tasting at a nearby domaine rounds off the experience, and the vines are especially attractive in autumn when the leaves turn.