Gevrey-Chambertin. “Nothing,” wrote Alexandre Dumas peére, “makes the future look so rosy as to contemplate it through a glass of Chambertin.” This incomparable wine, accounte the king of Burgundies (Romanée Conti being the queen) has been celebrated by the writers (Thackeray among them—although he suggeste drinking it with bouillabaisse) of a half-dozen centuries and as many countries; it was the favorite of Napoleon.
Chambertin, without the Gevrey-, and without other modifying name, must come from one of two vineyards (Chambertin proper or Clos de Béze) with a total area of some seventy magnificently situated acres, halfway up the slope and south of the village proper. The name, according to tradition, comes from champ-Bertin, or a field belonging to one Bertin, who must have lived very long ago indeed, since the vineyard has been calle after him since about 1200.
A century ago the village of Gevrey added to its name, by royal decree, that of its most famous vineyard, an became Gevrey-Chambertin. There are now a great many second-and third-rate vineyards (including about a dozen in the township of Brochon) legally entitled to this appellation, which has ceased to mean very much as far as quality is concerned.
On the other hand, in order to get a great wine from Gevrey-Chamber-tin, one does not by any means have to insist on a wine from Chambertin proper. Some ten of its other vine-yards rank among the loftiest aristocrats of the Côte d'Or—any one of them is capable of producing, in a favorable year, a wine worthy of Chambertin itself.
***Chambertin (32)
***Clos de Beze (38)
**Latriciéres-Chambertin (17)
**Charmes-Chambertin (31)
**Mazis-Chambertin (32)
**Ruchottes-Chambertin (8)
**Chapelle-Chambertin (13)
**Griotte-Chambertin (14)
**Mazoyères-Chambertin (48)
**Gevrey-Chambertin, 'Clos St. Jacques (18)
*Gevrey-Chambertin, les Casetiers (20)
*Gevrey-Chambertin, les Varoilles (15)
Morey-Saint-Denis. Overshadowed by its illustrious neighbors, Chambertin and Musigny, the village of Morey has perhaps received less than its due of celebrity, for a half dozen of its wines are of surpassing quality, big, sturdy Burgundies of great power an long life. In general, throughout the length of the Côte d'Or, the fuller-bodied wines come from the steeper vineyards, and Morey's best plots (the Clos de Tart, the Clos de la Roche, and the Clos St. Denis, from which the village takes its present name) are steep and high, and run back into the cliffs and stony outcroppings of the upper slope.
Bonnes Mares, one of the best climats of all Burgundy, lies partly in Morey and partly over the township line of Chambolle-Musigny to the south. The five-acre Morey portion is usually considered the better, but there are thirty-four acres of Bonnes Mares in Chambolle. The wine, in character, is nearer Musigny than Clos de Tart or Chambertin.
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