Meursault: The Quintessential White Wine Village

My final stop along the Route des Grands Crus, Meursault, is a dream for those who love white Burgundy. It’s the quintessential white wine village: picturesque but not pretentious, truly excellent but down-to-earth producers, and heaps of charm and beautiful architecture all surrounded by vines. Although the AOP designation doesn’t include any Grand Crus, Meursaults are world class whites that can compete with any of the other Chardonnays. It’s not a very touristy place, yet there’s plenty to explore. 

I started off at the Hôtel de Ville, which is currently under renovation, in the center of town. The impressive building with a notable colorful tiled roof and decorative fountain was made famous when featured in the old French film La Grande Vadrouille. A stone’s throw away, you have La Petite Vadrouille which is the ideal place to pick up picnic supplies. Whether you want to have a snack amongst the vines, or a full lunch, they’re wonderfully welcoming. The small epicerie has an excellent selection of cheeses, a “cave à saucisse” for all your dried sausage needs, Burgundy grown shiitakes and other produces, chocolates from a Meursault born maker now based in Strasbourg, locally made raw milk cream and butter, and, bien sûr, wine. After we fortified ourselves there for an outdoor picnic, it was time for a small stroll (which is what their name translates to) about town. 

There’s plenty of beautiful architecture to see, like the Romanesque and gothic church Église Saint-Nicolas de Meursault or the Château de Citeaux with its turreted gate house and pigeonnier, and a variety of walled estates that you can glimpse through their fences and gates. There’s even a 12th century leprosy hospital with a very modern zinc addition that you can visit. The former hospital isolated leprosy victims and served the poor, and now serves tourists as the Meursault tourism office with exhibition spaces.  

For a place that looks so traditional in its style, there’s plenty of technology to be found. The town has helpfully set up free wifi where you can find your local winemaker of choice on a map in order to visit, and there’s even a Tesla charging station at Château de Meursault. The Château is a lovely building with a long history, stunning grounds next to a small stream, and a tall dovecote. It’s also the site of a hugely important cultural event each year: La Paulée de Meursault. The Paulée is a lunch that’s traditionally held in November to celebrate the end of the grape harvest. What was historically an informal meal between Cisterian monks and the harvest workers, was revived in 1923 by Jules Lafon, and has become a truly international event for winemakers, workers, writers, and connoisseurs. It caps off the “Trois Glorieuses”: a three-day celebration in Burgundy that starts with a gala dinner at Clos de Vougeot, leads into the famous auction at the Hospices de Beaune, and ends with the grand celebration luncheon of La Paulée. It’s probably the nicest BYOB (bring your own bottle) event one could ever attend with each attendee bringing their most special and prized bottles to share, and the festivities continue long into the evening. Reservations can be hard to come by and need to be made far in advance, but it’s an honor for any wine lover to partake in the conviviality and commemoration of the Burgundian harvest each year.

This article is one of a series that I wrote on the Route des Grand Crus. To read more and see others in the series, please see Chateau de Pommard’s blog.

Nuits-Saint-Georges: The Namesake for the Côte de Nuits

My next stop on the Route des Grands Crus was another village known for its superlative red wines-- Nuits-Saint-Georges. Although there are no Grand Crus from this commune, there are some great village and Premier Cru level wines. It’s a well-regarded appellation known for red wines that take a bit more time and require a bit more age than some others in the region. There are a small amount of white wines here as well, but it’s less than five percent of the total production.

You get a sense of the importance of Nuits-Saint-Georges to the winemaking trade in the area from the fact that the region itself, Côte de Nuits, takes its name from the town. Nuits does not refer to the French word for night, however, but it is thought that it comes from the Latin word for walnuts-- a reference to the walnut and hazelnut trees of the area. The wine has such historic significance, that King Louis XIV was told to drink it medicinally and had his bottles of Champagne replaced by Nuits-Saint-Georges.

In comparison to the other villages I visited, the lively town felt like a veritable metropolis... with a population of 5,400 inhabitants. So while still fairly small, it was the largest of the towns we visited on this particular trip and felt bustling with more shops, restaurants, caves, and activity overall.

Nuits-Saint-Georges has enormous importance for its role in promoting Burgundy wines globally as it is where the Chevaliers du Tastevin were founded in 1934. The Chevaliers are an international brotherhood of Burgundy wine connoisseurs. Originally intended to revive interest in the Burgundian wine industry during the Great Depression, the organization now celebrates the magic and conviviality of Burgundy wines worldwide in over 120 countries. Their headquarters have been based at the Château Clos de Vougeot since 1944, but walking around Nuits-Saint-Georges, you can see a small unobtrusive plaque highlighting their humble origins at the Caveau Nuiton.

There is a walking trail that highlights many of the major sights in the town-- you need only to look for small metal triangles with a buccaneer standing atop a wine barrel. One major site to visit would be the Cassissium which is an entire interactive museum and factory tour devoted to the blackcurrant. Grapes are not the only famous fruit export from Burgundy, after all. Crème de cassis, the local liqueur made from blackcurrants, is commonly used as a syrup to flavor white wine for a sweet aperitif called kir, or, when paired with Champagne, a kir royale. It can be nice to break up all the wine tasting along the Route des Grands Crus with a different kind of tasting.

The belfry, along a slightly touristy strip in the commercial center of town, is an architectural jewel. Built in the early 1600s, the Flemish style belfry covered in vines was a watchtower and served as the town hall until 1833. There’s a monument to the local sculptor Paul Cabet on one side of the facade as well. The clock chimes were restored in the 1980s so visitors today still benefit from the local song punctuating the day’s events. A short stroll away is the Église Saint-Denis which has a distinctive tiled roof and sits next to the banks of the Meuzin. Just a small trickle of water now, the river used to supply drinking troughs, communal washhouses, mills and tanneries. Inside the church, there is an organ by “celebrity” organ maker Aristide Cavaillé-Coll who famously made the organ inside Notre-Dame de Paris.

Although technically not in Nuits-Saint-Georges, it’s worth a small detour to the Cîteaux Abbey just east of the town. Famous today for their Cîteaux cheese, which you can and definitely should stock up on in their wonderful small store, the abbey has been around since the 12th century and the Cisterician monks were instrumental in the wine-growing success of the entire region. The history of the climats and terroirs of Burgundy cannot be separated from the history of the monks of Cîteaux who built their own winegrowing estate, acquired land across Burgundy, and systematically increased and improved winemaking and production in the area. There are guided visits of the abbey, a silent walking path laying out the long scope of history there, and the small shop filled with monastic made goods.

For Château de Pommard aficionados, perhaps the most interesting site in Nuits-Saint-Georges is the Saint-Symphorien church which features historic wooden pews including one by the entrance inscribed with the name Marey-Monge. It belonged to Ernest Marey-Monge and his wife Sophie, one of the eight children of Nicolas-Joseph Marey et Emilie Monge who purchased the Château de Pommard premises from the founding Micault family.

This article is one of a series that I wrote on the Route des Grand Crus. For more info and to check out the other pieces, please see Chateau de Pommard’s blog.

Gevrey-Chambertin: The Origin of Burgundy Wine

The Route des Grands Crus is one of most picturesque driving routes in France that winds its way through some of the best villages for Burgundy wines. Created in 1937 as the first tourism route in France, the full road trip encompasses a narrow strip of land that spans 60 kilometers from Dijon in the North, to Santenay in the South. The journey along the route traverses through 30+ different wine-oriented villages in the famed Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune regions and affords visitors plenty of opportunities for taking in the architecture, learning about terroir, and drinking the world’s best burgundies along the way. For me, it’s the total package when traveling through France: incredible food, wine, and small-town scenery.

Although you have your pick of charming villages along the route, for me, it was fitting to start in Gevrey-Chambertin Not only is it the capital of Grands Crus in Burgundy with nine Grand Cru vineyard designations to its name, but it’s also where winemaking plausibly began in Burgundy during Gallo-Roman times. Archaeological excavations done at Au-Dessus de Bergis in 2008 have found evidence of winemaking there dating back to the first century. Although the wines from that time would taste nothing like the profile of today’s wines given the changes in agriculture, vinification, and the heavy use of spices historically, it’s where Burgundy wines as we know them began, and thus my journey.

I wanted to understand the deeply rooted history of the village as much as possible so my first stop was to head to the Château de Gevrey-Chambertin. Currently under renovation, the chateau is a medieval fort originally built for the Cluny Abbey. From 1019-1790, the chateau and its accompanying winemaking were managed by Clunisian monks. The square tower is still in excellent condition and has a stunning view overlooking the sweeping pinot noir vines below. Turning the corner from the chateau, I loved the viewpoint from the Clos Saint-Jacques where I could glimpse the rolling fields, the local church, and vines as far as the eye could see.

Heading back to the center of the village, I popped into the Halle Chambertin which opened in 2020 with exhibits on oenotourism and local history, and where we received enthusiastic guidance from local tourism officials. It was a great way to get a broad overview of the region and its history before heading out to explore the town on foot. It’s a pretty tiny village so I didn’t need to go far to see some of the stone houses, tiled rooves, and wine caves. Close by, in the center of town, there is a metal sculpture called Les Portes de Saint-Vincent that highlights some of the most beloved aspects of Burgundian life: the escargots, the local poultry, the terroir, the harvest, and more. It’s a simple metal structure the size of a wall, but it was moving to see a physical representation of the community, tradition, and agriculture that makes life in Burgundy so special. It was originally erected for the festival of Saint-Vincent Tournante-- a yearly event honoring the patron saint of winemaking that takes place every January and sounds like a massive local party with tasting sessions, parades, and charity events in various villages along the route.

No visit to Gevrey-Chambertin would be complete without stopping by a few of the domaines and caves to taste some of the famous red wines of the village. That’s what a road trip on the Route des Grands Crus is all about: wine and understanding it within the context of place. The most notable appellation here is Chambertin, the favorite wine of Napoleon the first, and one of the most well-known and respected red wines in the world today. Although Gevrey-Chambertin is most noted for its Grands Crus, it’s also rich with excellent premier crus and village wines.

Last, but certainly not least, if you, like me, are planning to spend all week driving through Burgundy, indulging in local delicacies and (safely) drinking as much pinot noir and chardonnay as you can, it’s well worth visiting the Combe Lavaux. It’s a beautiful nature preserve that is popular with hikers and rock climbers where you can head into the forest to work up a sweat to off-set the time spent in the car and at the table. The extraordinary terroir of the area is what makes the wines so magnificent, and there’s no better place to appreciate the unique geography and specific terroir of Gevrey-Chambertin, than from the cliffs overlooking the Combe Lavaux.

This is part of a series I wrote for Chateau Pommard. To read more, check out their website.