News
What’s in a name?
The 'Climats de Bourgogne'
by Rosi Hanson
In Burgundy a sense of history is ever-present. On a sunny Saturday at the end of June if you had walked up a little street with the positively Proustian name of Rue du Temps Perdu, near the village church in Vosne-Romanee, you would have found a gathering of about 120 people in the back yard of the Domaine de la Romanee Conti. A dapple-grey horse, one of two used by the DRC to work the vineyards, leaned amiably over its stable door. “He’s called Prosper”, said a helpful child. A manure heap reminded one of just how useful a horse can be to a bio-dynamic estate.
A mixed bunch of local civil servants, historians both amateur and professional, wine-makers, and a policeman who got to know the DRC during the recent infamous attempt to blackmail the estate (by threatening to poison the vines) were all dressed for walking. Picnics and walking sticks were being assembled when Aubert de Villaine, director of the DRC, grabbed a megaphone to welcome these Friends of the Abbaye St. Vivant who were about to retrace the steps of pre-revolutionary wine-making monks. A cheer went up as he waved his hat in the air and led the way up past the Romanee St. Vivant vineyard, Richebourg, and the much photographed cross at the foot of the Romanee-Conti wall.
A few years ago some local people - amongst the moving lights were Aubert and Pamela de Villaine, Jacques and Ros Seysses of Domaine Dujac, and Francois Faiveley of the eponymous merchant – decided to try and save the ruin of the old abbey which was an outpost of the Abbaye de Cluny in the Maconnais. It was from this hilltop base that monks descended to tend the now famous vineyards, harvest the grapes and make wine in Vosne-Romanee.
The abbey was in a parlous state, neglected and ignored for years. An association was created, money raised to do essential work to stop further decline. This annual walk is a kind of celebratory pilgrimage, perhaps.
Leaving behind the legendary Romanee-Conti, the little road bends right passing La Romanee, owned by a branch of the Liger-Belair family, and then left, above La Tache, where wild flowers have been sown along a newly re-constructed wall. Sweet peas and honeysuckle scent the air, attracting bees and butterflies. Small lizards dart into crevices, and self-sown sedum have found a home where stones have dislodged. It is nice to know that these great wines come from such idyllic surroundings.
With larks singing overhead, the walkers climb steeply up into scrubland and then woods, welcome for their cool shade. Undulating pastures come next, a village street, and then a final sharp incline. The walk, which takes about 2 hours, culminates in a convivial meal as families spread out on the grass in front of the ruins with their picnic lunches, passing round wine, and cherries from their gardens.
In Vosne-Romanee the monks’ vat-house and cellars – the “Ancien Vendangeoir des Moines de Saint Vivant de Vergy”as the plaque on the wall says –is owned by the DRC. The ancient stone building has been beautifully restored and is now the Domaine’s office, also providing a second useful cellar. Is it fanciful to imagine those medieval monks leaving their vendangeoir to walk home at the end of a working day, pausing where we paused, enjoying the same scenery, flora and fauna?
It is certainly not fanciful, says Aubert de Villaine, to think that they knew the value of their vineyards. They were already exporting to markets that demanded the finest wines. Long before the appellation controlee laws existed those wines came from named, delineated vineyards or climats, as Burgundians call them. The word has nothing to do with climate, but is about terroir and specific identifiable sites, cultivated over centuries. It is claimed that there are over 1000 of them between Dijon and Santenay on the narrow strip of land, 60 kilometres long, known as the Cote d’Or. This is believed to be unique and is currently the subject of a bid to be recognized as a Unesco World Heritage Site.
This autumn the final dossier in support of the bid, preparation of which started two years ago, will be lodged with the French State. This is the first hurdle. Only two dossiers are chosen by the State each year to go forward. The Mayors of Dijon and Beaune, with other local politicians, have no doubt been making representations. The wine community has been mobilized; there have been conferences, learned papers on the geo-history of the climats have been given and no local event happens without a presentation about the bid. Three photographers were commissioned to highlight the beauty of the vines and buildings – the resulting much-admired exhibition has travelled from Beaune to the Clos de Vougeot and is in Nuits St. Georges until September. If you are in the area, sooner or later someone will try and sign you up for a subscription to the supporters’ association and give you a badge.
Should wine-buyers care about this? Etienne de Montille, wine-maker at his familial estate in Volnay on the Cote de Beaune, and director of the Chateau de Puligny thinks it has relevance for anyone who buys Burgundy.
Firstly, the complications of the diverse appellations are often confusing for consumers, so a wider understanding of the concept of climats may help.
Secondly, as we know, the best vineyards are often owned by many different growers, each with a few rows, all making their wines differently. Patchiness, in terms of quality, makes Burgundy a minefield. It defeats some consumers, who prefer to look to other areas. For standards to rise generally is in the interests of all Burgundian growers.
Etienne de Montille contends that the Unesco bid, if successful, will do much to raise the bar. Those few who trade on famous vineyard names but whose wines are a let-down will be obliged to take more care, he believes. That is something devoutly to be hoped for.
If you would like to support the Unesco bid, or enjoy some of the photographs celebrating the Cote d’Or and its climats, go to www.climats-bourgogne.com
Rosi Hanson
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