Henrietta StratonDiscover Burgundy. 2000 years of viticulture in Gevrey-Chambertin
Gevrey-Chambertin is one of the oldest winegrowing sites in Burgundy. Or, maybe, the oldest, as the presence of a Gallo-Roman vineyard dated back to 1st century was confirmed in Gevrey-Chambertin. So what do you do when a site has been developing viticulture for over 2000 years? You find new blood! And I found a winery that started selling wine under their own label just 5 vintages ago. So let's traditionally talk about some history and geography of the appellation and then switch to Domaine Trapet-Rochelandet.
Gevrey-Chambertin - History of the appellation
Burgundian Law granted ownership of land to anyone who planted vines on uncultivated land.
Until the 6th century vineyards were planted on the plains at the Gallo-Roman villas. After the 6th century the 'migration' of vineyards started as Burgundian Law granted ownership of land to anyone who planted vines on uncultivated land. This is the reason of abundance of Clos* in Gevrey-Chambertin - people wanted to show ownership or protect their vines from animals. Other than that, monks were always surrounding their vineyards with walls, and you know well that they were the most important drivers of the viticulture in Burgundy.
*Clos - vineyard surrounded by stone walls
Gevrey or Chambertin? Or Gevrey-Chambertin?
An important trend was set in 1847 in Burgundy. King Louis Philippe I allowed to rename the village of Gevrey to Gevrey-Chambertin.
Reason behind - prestige, as they already knew how valuable the wines that come from Chambertin climat were. Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée and Morey-Saint-Denis followed the example shortly.
it was proved that terroir-based viticulture exists here for the last 2000 years
2000 Years of Terroir Awareness
Was it a god's blessing or something in the air, we don't know. But the fact of terroir-based viticulture is proven to exist here for the last 2000 years. So since the very beginning of grapevine cultivation in Burgundy. People always aimed to link the origin of their wine to a specific geographical area, each wine was presented according to its' origin. This way more than 1000 climats* were born in Burgundy.