Romanée-Saint-Vivant 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

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. It is situated within the commune of Vosne-Romanée. La Romanée borders on

La Grande Rue La Grande Rue 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. Wine style In general its character is feminine rathe ...

in the south, Romanée-Conti and Richebourg in the west,

Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Vosne-Romanée () is a Communes of France, commune in the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Population Wine It produces the region's most celebrated wines, all made entirely from the ...

vineyards in the north (Les Suchots) and in the east (La Croix-Rameau and Les Gaudichots) and also the village Vosne-Romanée itself in the east. The AOC was created in 1936. It takes its name from the

Abbey of Saint Vivant An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conc ...

, which in Medieval times owned several vineyards among the Vosne-Romanée Grands Crus.

History

There are several different vineyard owners in Romanée-Saint-Vivant today, although

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, often abbreviated to DRC, is an estate in Burgundy, France that produces white and red wine. It is widely considered among the world's greatest wine producers, and DRC bottles are among the world's most expensive. I ...

is the largest. The entire vineyard of Romanée Saint-Vivant was bought in 1791 by Nicolas-Joseph Marey, son-in-law of the geometer

Gaspard Monge Gaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse (9 May 1746 – 28 July 1818) was a French mathematician, commonly presented as the inventor of descriptive geometry, (the mathematical basis of) technical drawing, and the father of differential geometry. Durin ...

, when it was up for sale after the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

after much land had been sequestered. After keeping it as a monopole for over 100 years, the Marey-Monge family sold off the southwestern part of the vineyard (

lieu-dit ''Lieu-dit'' (; plural: ''lieux-dits'') (literally ''said-location'') is a French toponymic term for a small geographical area bearing a traditional name. The name usually refers to some characteristic of the place, its former use, a past event, ...

''Le Clos des Quatre Journeaux'') to the Latour family in 1898, which in turn later resold around half of it. At a later stage, another portion in the northern part of the vineyard was sold to Charles Noellat. In 1966, the last member of the Marey-Monge family leased the remaining to

, and also gave them an option to be first buyers if the vineyard would come up for sale. In 1988, the vineyard was bought from the Neyroud family, which had inherited it from Ms Marey-Monge. This last deal was financed by the sale and leaseback of the domaine's holdings in

Échezeaux Échezeaux () 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. Échezeaux is located within the commune of Flagey-Echézeau ...

and parts of

Grands Échezeaux Grands Échezeaux 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. Grands Échezeaux is located within the commune of Flag ...

, as well as the sale of some Premier Cru and village level vineyards in Vosne-Romanée. Wine from the time when Domaine de la Romanée-Conti leased it, rather than owned it, also has the name Marey-Monge on the label.

Production

In 2008, of vineyard surface was in production within the AOC, and 237 hectoliter of wine was produced, corresponding to just under 32,000 bottles.

AOC regulations

The main grape variety for Romanée-Saint-Vivant 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 and Pinot gris as accessory grapes, but this is practically never used for any Burgundy Grand Cru vineyard. The allowed base yield is 35 hectoliter per hectare, a minimum planting density of 9,000 vines per hectare and a minimum grape maturity of 11.5 per cent potential alcohol is required.AOC regulations, last updated 2009
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romanee-Saint-Vivant Burgundy (historical region) AOCs

History

Production

AOC regulations

See also

References