Vougeot

Vougeot is one of the smallest communes on the Côte de Nuits, yet within its boundaries lies one of the best-known vineyards in the world. The village is quiet, made up of a few streets of stone houses, some wine estates and a handful of places to stay, with the vines coming right up to the doors. The road that runs along the foot of the slope, known to wine lovers as the Route des Grands Crus, passes beside it, so you can reach the village without effort from Dijon in the north or Beaune in the south.

The history of Vougeot begins with Cîteaux Abbey, the Cistercian mother house founded in 1098 a short distance to the east, on the plain. In the twelfth century the monks received land at Vougeot and began planting vines, adding to the holdings over the next generations. The Cistercians were farmers who cared about quality, and they observed which parts of the slope gave the best wine. In time they enclosed the whole vineyard with a wall, the clos, and built the cuverie and cellars to make the wine on site. The enclosure covers around fifty hectares and still looks much as it did when the monks finished it.

The château at the top of the clos, built in the sixteenth century over the earlier buildings, holds the main sights. The great cellar, the cuverie, contains four huge medieval presses, with enormous wooden beams, which gave the monks a way of pressing the grapes of the entire vineyard. The vaulted cellar below, where the wine matured, is just as impressive. You can also see the old kitchens with a large fireplace and the Renaissance staircase. Guided and self-guided visits are usually available, and the cellar is also used for events. Opening hours change with the season, so check ahead.

Since 1944 the château has belonged to the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, a brotherhood founded in 1934 to promote Burgundy wine. It holds formal dinners called chapitres, where new members are inducted in red and gold robes, and the Clos de Vougeot is known across France as the stage for this ceremony. The Saint-Vincent Tournante, a winegrowers' festival that moves between Burgundy villages each January, is also linked to the brotherhood's calendar.

One curious fact about the Clos de Vougeot is that it has many owners. Over the centuries, particularly after the French Revolution, the monks' property was sold and then divided by sale and inheritance, until the vineyard had dozens of different growers. As a result, bottles from the Clos can vary widely in style and quality, depending on the producer and on where the vines stand on the slope: the upper rows lie close to the road above, the middle gives the best wine according to tradition, and the bottom lies near the road below. Pinot Noir is the grape, and the appellation, recognised in 1936, covers red wine only for the Grand Cru. Vougeot also has a single-owner white premier cru, Clos Blanc de Vougeot, and a few premier cru and village wines.

A good day here combines the château with a walk through the vineyard, a lunch in a nearby village and a tasting at one of the estates. Neighbouring Vosne-Romanée and Chambolle-Musigny, famous for their own Grand Crus, are only minutes away by car, and Nuits-Saint-Georges, the market town of the Côte de Nuits, is a short drive south. Cyclists can follow quiet vineyard lanes, and walkers can take the paths that cross the slope above the road.

Visiting during the harvest, usually in September, means seeing teams of pickers in the rows, tractors with grapes and a lively mood, but you should expect crowds and book accommodation well ahead. Spring is greener and calmer, with the vines in leaf, while autumn colours in October turn the whole slope red and gold. Winter is quiet, and some estates close, but the cellars are at their coolest and most atmospheric then.