Salute to a Vineyard

This may interest any who are not familiar with the story of Col. Bisson, who was leading a French regiment, and who paused and saluted the Clos de Vougeot.

Col. Bisson fought for Napoleon following the French Revolution and knew the value and culture of this monument. In front of the Château he commanded his troops to make a “left face” and ordered the colour guard to dip the French flag to one of the Glories of France. He said "That vineyard contains the blood of France".

This beau geste has been immortalized by every French army detachment since that gesture when marching down the Route Nationale (N 74). The army will stop and salute the great vineyard.

II find that to be a typical French thing,although I failed to salute the vinyard when I was there.

Unfortunately the French Revolution was also responsible for the breakup of the Clos de Vougeot and other vineyards of the Cote d'Or owned by the clergy and nobility. Although the whole of the Clos is classified grand cru, the vineyards on the other side of the wall at the flat part next to RN 74 are classified villages, and the vineyards adjacent to the middle parts of the Clos have premier cru status. There are 80+ owners in the Clos and the wine quality varies widely depending on where within the Clos their vines are. The Cistercian monks had had a three-tier system similar to the Bruderberg/Herrenberg/Abtsberg arrangement at Maximin Grunhaus.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I did not know that story! Thank you.

[David M. Bueker]

Unfortunately the French Revolution was also responsible for the breakup of the Clos de Vougeot and other vineyards of the Cote d'Or owned by the clergy and nobility. Although the whole of the Clos is classified grand cru, the vineyards on the other side of the wall at the flat part next to RN 74 are classified villages, and the vineyards adjacent to the middle parts of the Clos have premier cru status. There are 80+ owners in the Clos and the wine quality varies widely depending on where within the Clos their vines are. The Cistercian monks had had a three-tier system similar to the Bruderberg/Herrenberg/Abtsberg arrangement at Maximin Grunhaus.

-Paul W.

While quality within the Clos varies, it is more dependent on producer than plot location these days. Solid producers make notably better wines with less well-placed plots of land within the Clos.

Very true. In Burgundy the producer is everything. But it makes a mockery of the villages/premier cru/grand cru classification when there are two side by side plots, one of which is classified villages while the other is grand cru simply because it is inside a wall.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Very true. In Burgundy the producer is everything. But it makes a mockery of the villages/premier cru/grand cru classification when there are two side by side plots, one of which is classified villages while the other is grand cru simply because it is inside a wall.

-Paul W.

There’s plenty of mockery to go around in Burgundy.

Corton anyone?

But it makes a mockery of the villages/premier cru/grand cru classification when there are two side by side plots, one of which is classified villages while the other is grand cru simply because it is inside a wall.

-Paul W.

Well the walls were not randomly placed. And there have to be borders to the grand cru vineyards at some point, so there is always going to be something directly next to a grand cru vineyard.

All of the grands crus in the Cote d'Or are on the mid-to-upper parts of the slope, and all of the vineyards on the flat part bordering RN74 are classified villages. The sole exception is that all of the land within the walls of the old Cistercian monastic land are classified grand cru.

Dave is right about the mockery of the classification system in Burgundy. Bending of the rules, and out-and-out fraud, are rampant.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Rampant fraud? Do tell. At least if it's recent. Stuff from 30 years ago or more is not relevant.

Of course many CdV producers have both lower and upper plots, and most blend.
Some of the lower slope only producers (Grivot) have wines that are pretty sought after, while some upper level ones are pretty meh (Gros Freres anyone)
But most of the best (Meo etc) are more upper slope.
Really, I've never done a side by side, but think I'd rather had a good producer from upper slope than a good producer from lower slope, but prefer a good producer lower slope to a mediocre upper slope producer.
Would also love to hear the details of rampant fraud,

I phrased that badly. What I meant to say is that bending the rules is rampant. I mean things like using overproduction from grand cru vineyards in villages wines. The authorities prohibit this to discourage deliberate overproduction in grand cru vineyards. But this happens in some years despite best efforts of the growers to prevent it, and even some of the best producers confess privately to using grand cru must to improve their villages wines.

Regarding fraud, excise tax isn't collected until the label is put on the bottles. Producers' inventories of bottled wine are unlabeled, with just a sign on each lot to indicate the vintage and appellation. The temptation certainly is there for the unscrupulous. But I haven't heard of any fraud scandals since Remoissonet.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Bending the rules is still rampant? Again examples please.

I just gave you one--using grand cru overproduction in villages wines. I have no complaints about that one, since the end result benefits the consumer.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

No. You gave us an example of what can be done, not anyone who is currently doing it.