Chambertin-Clos de Bèze is an ''

Appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

'' (AOC) and

Grand Cru Cru is a wine term used to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. It is a French word which is traditionally translated as "growth", as is the past participle of the verb "croître" (to grow); it literally means 'grown'. The ...

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

for

red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties. The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple grap ...

in the

Côte de Nuits The Côte de Nuits () is a French wine region located in the northern part of the Côte d'Or, the limestone ridge that is at the heart of the Burgundy wine region. It extends from Dijon to just south of Nuits-Saint-Georges, which gives its name to ...

subregion of

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

, with

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

as the main grape variety. Chambertin-Clos de Bèze is located within the commune of

Gevrey-Chambertin Gevrey-Chambertin () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department of France in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France.

, together with a group of nine Grand Cru vineyards all having "

Chambertin Chambertin is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for red wine in the Côte de Nuits subregion of Burgundy, with Pinot noir as the main grape variety. Chambertin is located within the commune of Gevrey-Chambertin, ...

" as part of their name.K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'' pg 191-195 Workman Publishing 2001 It is located uphill from (to the west of) the

Route des Grands Crus The Route des Grands Crus (roughly, "road of the great wines") is the name of a tourist route situated in Burgundy, France. The approximately 60-kilometre route runs along the foot of the Côte d'Or escarpment, from Dijon in the north to Santen ...

, borders on Chambertin in the north,

Griotte-Chambertin Griotte-Chambertin is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for red wine in the Côte de Nuits subregion of Burgundy, with Pinot noir as the main grape variety. Griotte-Chambertin is located within the commune of Gevr ...

and

Chapelle-Chambertin Chapelle-Chambertin is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for red wine in the Côte de Nuits subregion of Burgundy, with Pinot noir as the main grape variety. K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'' pg 191-195 Workman Publis ...

in the east (across the road) and

Mazis-Chambertin Mazis-Chambertin, sometimes written Mazy-Chambertin is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for red wine in the Côte de Nuits subregion of Burgundy, with Pinot noir as the main grape variety. Mazis-Chambertin is loc ...

in the north.BIVB fiche
accessed on December 1, 2009 The AOC was created in 1937. Under AOC regulations some wine from Chambertin-Clos de Bèze may be labeled as just ''Chambertin''. Since Chambertin-Clos de Bèze has a good reputation on its own, this is not widely practiced.

Wine style

As with most of Burgundy's vineyards, both Chambertin and Clos de Bèze have had numerous owners, twenty-three and eighteen respectively. Unfortunately, quality varies from producer to producer and, although Chambertin has been called "King of Wines", less accomplished winemakers do not always produce wines that fully live up to that reputation. The quality of wines from Clos de Bèze is considered higher and more consistent than those from Chambertin. The best wines from these two vineyards are quite powerful. They have concentrated fruit flavors, intense, rich, perfumed aromas, and long aging capabilities. The slight difference between the two derives from the deeper sub-soil of Chambertin which makes those wines a little more brawny with slightly higher

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

and

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'', ...

content than wines from the Clos de Bèze.J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 313 Oxford University Press 2006 From this grand cru the wines are expected to have some finesse to compensate for it relatively low body and be able to reach its peak between 12 and 30 years.T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pg 146 Dorling Kindersley 2005 In general, Chambertin and Chambertin-Clos de Bèze are seen as one notch in quality above the other seven Grands Crus with "Chambertin" as part of their name. This is also reflected in a small difference in the allowed yield, where Chambertin and Chambertin-Clos de Bèze are restricted to a base yield of 35 hl/ha, while the other seven are allowed 37 hl/ha.

History

Around A.D.630, Algamaire, the Duke of Southern Burgundy, endowed the Abbey of Beze with some land in Gevrey in which the

Cistercian nuns Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church. History The first Cistercian monastery for women, Le Tart Abbey, was established at Tart-l'Abbaye in t ...

of Notre Dame de Tart first cultivated the land into a vineyard.H. Johnson ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'' pg 132 Simon and Schuster 1989 Matt Kramer, ’Making sense of Burgundy’, William Morrow and company 1989, pg 127-130Alexis Lichine, Guide to the wines and vineyards of France, 3rd edition Papermac 1986 Six centuries later, the field next to the abbey was bought by a peasant named Bertin and was called the Champs de Bertin, or "Bertin’s field". Bertin also planted vines on his field, and the name was soon shortened to Chambertin. In 1702 vigneron Claude Jobert acquired both vineyards uniting both Chambertin and Clos de Beze.H. Johnson ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'' pg 269-270 Simon and Schuster 1989

Production

In 2008, of vineyard surface was in production for Chambertin AOC, and 508 hectoliter of wine was produced under the Chambertin designation,BIVB: Les Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée de Bourgogne
accessed on December 2, 2009 corresponding to slightly under 68,000 bottles.

AOC regulations

The main grape variety for Chambertin-Clos de Bèze is Pinot noir. The AOC regulations also allow up to 15 per cent total of

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

Pinot blanc Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produces white ...

and

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

as accessory grapes, but this is practically never used for any Burgundy Grand Cru vineyard. The allowed base yield is 42 hectoliters per hectare, a minimum planting density of 9,000 vines per hectare is required as well as a minimum grape maturity of 11.5 per cent

potential alcohol Must weight is a measure of the amount of sugar in grape juice (must) and, hence, indicates the amount of alcohol that could be produced if it is all fermented to alcohol, rather than left as residual sugar.AOC regulations, last updated 2011
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambertin-Clos de Beze Burgundy (historical region) AOCs

Wine style

History

Production

AOC regulations

See also

References