• Chambertin is an Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée and Grand Cru vineyard known for red wine production of the Pinot Noir grape, located within the commune of Gevrey-Chambertin in the Côte de Nuits sub-region of the Côte d’Or in Burgundy.
• Surface area: 12.9 ha [1]
• Annual production: 390 hl [2]
• Owners: 25 [2]

• ‘Chambertin’ is a contraction of ‘Champs Bertin’ (Bertin’s field) after one Bertin who, owning land adjoining the Clos de Bèze belonging to the Abbey of Bèze and seeing the quality of wine the monks made there, decided to plant Pinot grapes.
• Chambertin and Clos de Bèze were both sold to the Chapitre of Langres in 1219 and remained in religious ownership from then until the French Revolution at the end of the 18^th [2].

• Location:
  • Lies above the Route des Grand crus, between Latricières-Chambertin & Clos de Bèze [1]
    • Sheltered under the Montagne de la Combe-Grisard, yet still receives influence from the Combe Grisard. [1]
    • Where Chambertin meets Clos de Bèze looks like a quarry; merely the rock formation. [1]
  • Terroir:
    • The vineyard is broadly a rectangular shape. [2]
    • In the main part of the vineyard, it is mostly flat; however, the upper sections towards the forest are a slight slope. [2]
      • Soils can be washed down to the road during heavy rain.
    • Altitude is between 275-300 metres [2]
    • Soil: Limestone of Bajocian origin [2]
      • In the south and upslope, the soil is a white oolite
        • locally known as Marnes Blanches.
      • Elsewhere, the soil is browner (Calcaire à Entroques)
      • Proportion of fine earth to rock/pebbles is 68% to 32%.
        • Exactly identical to Montrachet

Oolite: It looks transparent, slightly gray, almost like a clear glue binding the oolites together. Oolites form today in warm, supersaturated, shallow, highly agitated marine waters. The mechanism of formation is to begin with a seed of some sort, perhaps a shell fragment. The concentric layers are formed as the oolites are alternately exposed to pick up concentric layers and then buried to set the layer.

• Dry Red Wine from Pinot Noir
• A true Vins de Garde, needing a decade at least to soften up. [1]
• Chambertins are full, firm, and austere at the outset and structured & fleshy, with initial flavors of black fruit, licorice and coffee beans, mellowing into something rich, concentrated, generous, and warm-hearted when they mature. [1]
  • Charles Rousseau, who produce both Chambertin and Clos de Bèze at high a high-quality level states… “It [Chambertin] is male and sturdy. It lacks a bit of finesse in its youth, but then it rounds off.  Clos de Bèze is more complex, plus racé (racier), more delicate.” [2]
• Tannins are more obvious than top wines of Vosne-Romanée (not as subtle). [1]

• There are some 55 parcels of land (some as small as 50 sq. meters in size) [2]
  • Yet, 4 domaines own over half this grand cru
    • Armand Rosseau (2.15 ha)
    • Jean & Jean-Louis Trapet (1.90 ha)
    • Rossignol-Trapet (1.60 ha)
      • The Trapet estate was divided as recently as 1990.
    • Camus (1.69 ha)
    • Jacques Prieur (.84 ha)
    • Leroy (.50 ha)
    • Dujac (.29 ha)
    • Ponsot (.20 ha)
    • Denis Mortet (.15 ha)
    • Dugat-Py (.05 ha)

• Write about the food and culture of this region as it relates to wine.

[1] Coates, Clive. Wines of Burgundy. University Presses of California, 2008.

[2] Norman, Remington. Grand Cru ; The Great Wines of Burgundy Through the Perspective of Its Finest Vineyards. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2011.