Appellations
Grand Cru · Côte de Nuits
Clos de Vougeot
Vougeot · red · 50
Fifty hectares behind one Cistercian wall, divided among roughly eighty owners.
Under the vines
Three distinct bands: thin and stony at the top, deeper in the middle, damp and flat at the road.
In the glass
Everything from superb to ordinary. The upper parcels are grand cru by any measure; the lowest would be village anywhere else.
Why it sits here
The monks reputedly blended all three levels, which only makes sense if the levels differ.
Commonly misread
That the appellation guarantees the wine. Clos de Vougeot is the clearest evidence in Burgundy that it cannot.
Names worth knowing
Méo-Camuzet, Anne Gros, Leroy, Grivot, Château de la Tour, Faiveley