Red Wines of the Côte d'Or

Chassagne-Montracher. A century an a half ago both Pommard and Volnay were very different from the ruby wines which we drink under these labels today. They were oeil de perdrix, or “partridge-eye” in color, like pale vins roses; and most of the wines of Meursault and Chassagne-Montra-chet were red.

Apart from the wines of two incomparable vineyards (Montrachet and Batard-Montrachet) most of the better Chassagne-Montrachets, surprisingly enough, are red even today. We rarely see them in the United States, but they are worth running down, particularly if they are estate-bottled an carry such vineyard names as:

*Clos St. Jean(36)

*Les Boudriottes (45)

*La Maltroie (23)

Santenay. Southernmost of the Côte d'Or villages, Santenay is another one of the rather obscure names worth remembering, for its red wines, no less than its whites, are worthy of the Burgundian tradition and great Burgundian name, and to be preferre twenty times over to the “Pommar du commerce” which we in America, alas, all too often receive.

The Hospices de Beaune

One of the most beautiful medieval buildings of Europe, the Hospices, or charity hospital, of Beaune, is the scene annually, usually in November, of the most celebrated wine auction in the world. That day, if the vintage has been good, all Burgundy is en fête; and the prices brought at the auction generally determine the trend of wine prices for the ensuing year.

Despite the fact that the wine is sol when new and delivered in barrel, the good name of the Hospices is almost never abused, and the wines are almost invariably better than others of comparable origin. To be a director of the Hospices is an honor indeed, even among the wine merchants of Beaune.

The Hospices were founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, the wealthy chancellor of the Dukes of Burgundy. (Louis XI, his contemporary, remarked that Rolin could well afford to build a house for the poor, having made so many of them.) Be that as it may, in the five centuries since its foundation, the Hospital has received considerable endowment, much of it in the form of gifts or bequests of vineyard land. The vineyards, administered by the directors, produce the wines sold at the annual fall auction.

The product of each vineyard is auctioned separately, under the name of its cuvée, which is in most cases that of its donor, and the prices vary widely according to the origin, as well as the quality, of each wine. Here, listed more or less in the order which reputation, quality, and price have generally established, are the cuvées of the Hospices de Beaune, with the origin of each: