History &Information about French Burgundy vineyard:

When the Roman Empire disappeared at the time of the great invasions, religion became one of the last strongholds of civilisation. The same was true of the art of wine making.
The fall of the Roman Empire did not entail complete disappearance of viticulture. A supply of wine was indispensable to the Christian ritual. So it was that the bishops and religious communities in Burgundy took over the viticultural activities. At the very beginning of the middle ages, numerous donations were made to the religious communities, increasing their vineyard estates:

- at the beginning of the 7th century, the abbey at Bèze was given the future " Clos de Bèze " in Gevrey
- in 775, Charlemagne gave his Aloxe-Corton vineyards to the church in Saint-Andoche de Saulieu.

Christianity was therefore an essential factor in the propagation of the vine in episcopal and monastic France. Wine was also used in diplomatic circles to honour celebrities and became an important factor of the economy. It was, however, with the birth of the great monastic orders in the Middle Ages that winemaking gained considerable importance.
The capital town of Burgundian wines, Beaune, owes its development to wine. Moreover, in the Middle Ages, the wine from the Côte d'Or was called "Beaune wine".

909 : : Founding of the Abbey at Cluny by the Duke of Aquitaine, Guillaume le Pieux. Its independence from the lords and bishops and its direct links with the Papacy made it very powerful. And the abbey had its influence on wine making. Thus, in Burgundy, the history of the vine and of wine has always been associated with religious history.

The Cistercians and the Dukes of Burgundy (11th - 15th Centuries)

By the end of the 11th century, the Abbey at Cluny was the head of about a thousand monasteries in France and also in Italy. At that time, the Abbey also owned the biggest wine estate in Burgundy, spread over Pommard, Beaune, Auxey, Santenay, Givry and even into the Côte de Nuits.

In fact, the Clos Prieur and the Combe aux moines in Gevrey owe their names to the work of the "black monks" from the Cluny Abbey. For over 500 years, the role of the Cluny monks was essential for the Burgundian vineyards. But it was because it became so rich that Cluny was widely criticized, leading to an important movement of monastic reform in Europe.

1084 : Bruno Hartenfaust settled in the Alps and created the order of the Carthusians, based on a return to austerity, silence and a contemplative life. The monks lived as hermits. Towards 1200, about forty monasteries had adopted the Carthusians' way of life.

During the 13th century, the Carthusian order came to Beaune where it remained until the French Revolution in 1789. Apart from the wines of Cahors, the monks endeavoured to bring to the fore the vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and other estates including some in Burgundy. However, in spite of its austerity, the order founded by St. Bruno was no obstacle to the remarkable enrichment of the wine heritage of France.

1098 : With a will to return to a stricter observation of the rules of Saint Benoît, Robert de Molesme founded the Abbey at Cîteaux.

Unlike the monks at Cluny, the Cistercians worked the land themselves, for their beliefs were based on a balance between prayer and manual labour.

The rules of Saint Benoît allowed the monks a daily ration of wine but the wine was made above all for reasons of prestige and economic development. At a time when abbeys were important stopping places for travellers and pilgrims, it was beneficial to be known as a good cook to attract prestigious visitors who would, no doubt, leave handsome alms money in exchange for a bed and dinner. The wine of the Burgundian monks was also used in diplomatic circles : gifts of wine enabled them to maintain contact with famous people throughout Europe : popes, kings, princes, dukes, bishops…

The first vineyards were given to monks in Meursault, at the Clos des Corvées, by Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy.

1096-1290 : the religious communities in Burgundy received many donations from lords who had left on crusades in return for spiritual protection. Their vineyards increased greatly during this period.

1100 : Cîteaux received land in Vougeot which the monks strove to improve.

1132 : Birth of the Abbey of Maizières, near Beaune, a descendant of the Cistercian movement.

During the 14th century :

The settling of the popes in Avignon favoured the development of viticulture in the Côte d'Or. Moreover, some authors, such as Petrarch maintained that the popes remained in Avignon because they were so fond of the wine of Beaune, the name which was given at the time to the great wines of Burgundy. At the same time, the development of commerce was beneficial to the vineyards and therefore to the wines of Burgundy. This was also the time of the great international fairs, where by goods went from North to South by road and river. At this time, Beaune became independent and gained in notoriety. Woodland and heath gave way to vineyards. The vineyards grew considerably. Surrounded by dry stone walls, they became known as "clos".

1330 : The Cistercians built a stone wall round their Vougeot estate to give it a definite identity. By this time, they owned vineyards right across the Côte.

1348 - 1360 : The ecclesiastical community and many others were decimated by epidemics of the plague.

As labour had become rare, quality became more important than quantity. It was for this reason that the Cistercian monks perfected their techniques of training the vines and wine making, enriched the soil and began to select grape varieties. The increasing success of the Cistercians inspired other religious orders such as

- Vergy who created the Clos Saint-Denis at Morey Saint Denis,
- the parish church of Santenay which created the Clos Saint-Jeanin Chassagne-Montrachet,
- the nuns of Notre-Dame-de-Tart who walled in the Clos de Tart,
- the cathedral chapter in Langres which created the Clos du Chapitre

1361 : The death of Duke Philippe de Rouvres led to a new era, the golden age of Burgundy. The dynasty of the Valois of Burgundy was to create, from Philippe le Hardi to Charles le Téméraire, a true princely state, the "Grand Duchy of the west".

1443 : Under the reign of Duke Philippe le Bon, construction of the Hospice de Beaune, a magnificent representative of the so-called " Burgund-Flemish " style, still seen today on many roofs in the region.

1477 : Upon the death of Charles le Téméraire, Louis XI seized the Duchy of Burgundy.
At this time, the annexation of the Duchy cut Burgundy off from the rich tables of Flanders. Quality gave way to quantity, gamay supplanted pinot. The wars of religion and the fashion for Spanish wines led to a temporary eclipse of the wines of Burgundy.

1482 : The Duchy of Burgundy was eventually integrated into the royal estate. Dispossessed of her rights, the only daughter of Charles le Téméraire married Maximilian of Austria, and passing on to him her estate, including the Duchy of Burgundy.

From the Kings of France to the French Revolution (16th to 18th centuries).

During the 16th century : The Duchy suffered from the strife and wars of religion which devastated the country.

At the beginning of the 17th century : the rich classes or members of parliament began to buy up vineyard estates, taking over from the monasteries. This was to be the beginning of the disintegration of the ecclesiastical domains.

Some examples :
- 1631 : The Abbey of Saint-Vivant sold its highly estimated vineyards in Vosne Romanée
- 1660 : Cîteaux sold its land in Corton.

Indeed, members of parliament from both Dijon and Bordeaux had become interested in the prestigious vineyards near Dijon.

During the 17th and 18th centuries : the province of Burgundy was governed by members of the Condé family. With Louis XIII and the victory against Spain, the wines of Burgundy regained their reputation. The King and Queen Anne of Austria liked red Burgundy, said to be instrumental in the birth of Louis XIV nicknamed "Désiré". At the time, the fashion was for " œil de perdrix " wines , Volnay and Pommard. Burgundy regained its favored place at the best tables.

1668 : Governor of the Duchy of Burgundy, the " Grand Condé ", after becoming leader of the "Fronde", conquered Franche-Comté for Louis XIV. The frontier of the kingdom was thereby pushed eastward ensuring peace and prosperity for the Burgundian vineyards from then on.

1711-1712 : Heir to the monarchy of Spain and therefore to the Burgundian legacy, Louis XIV gave the title of Duke of Burgundy to his grand-son, Louis, the short-lived second Dauphin, father of the future Louis XV. Louis XV and Louis XVI made Burgundy the wine of the court. The aristocracy and rich middle classes followed suit. The Burgundian vineyards were in favour again. It was at this time that the Bouchard family settled in Burgundy and founded a wine company which was to become one of the oldest in the region.

Beginning of the 18th century : Birth of the wine trade. The new owners of vineyards were now those who had made their fortunes in commerce, the wine shippers. Unlike the shippers in Bordeaux who most often only sold wines, those in Beaune also grew grapes and made wine. The famous wine houses of Burgundy were in the hands of skillful businessmen who knew how to build up estates. These houses, such as Bouchard Père & Fils, owned vineyards and increased their estates during the entire 19th century. Acquisition by Bouchard Père & Fils follow a strict guideline : the systematic purchase of the best vineyards in the best places.

1787 : A famous traveller, Thomas Jefferson, future President of the United States, praised the merits of Montrachet and Chambertin. The structure of the vineyards was modified considerably from that point by the French Revolution when property belonging to the church was confiscated and dispersed.

In 1789, Talleyrand, bishop of Autun, initiated a means of resolving the financial crisis in France by merely taking back the clergy's possessions to pay back the State debt.

1790-1791 : Whereas there were only about 40 monks left at the Abbey in Cluny and the prestige of Cîteaux Abbey had considerably weakened, the monastic orders were abolished and their possessions requisitioned. Thus, the estates of Cluny, Cîteaux, and also the Abbeys of Maizières, the Carthusians, and the Carmelites in Beaune were put up for sale. The middle classes of the Ancien Régime, of which the great wine houses were members, were favoured by the sale of national goods and withdrew to the land, preferring to exchange warrants and other territorial mandates for land. The Burgundian example is not alone, for in Bordeaux vineyards were also acquired as a result of these revolutionary events.

The 19th century

The historic role of episcopal, monastic viticulture came to an end with the French Revolution. The wines of Burgundy entered a new era.

In the 1820's : appearance of the first books on wine making..

1855 :Doctor Lavalle set up an exhaustive classification of all the wines of Burgundy making a distinction between Grands Crus and Premiers Crus.

During the entire 19th century, Parisian high society invested great amounts in the châteaux around Bordeaux, which led to popularity of Bordeaux wines among Paris consumers as well as in England due to the reputation of these businessmen. But in Burgundy, investors were much more discret. At the time, Burgundy owed its popularity more to famous consumers such as Napoleon Bonaparte, or, in his time, Thomas Jefferson, than to its owners. However, due to the wine houses, employment increased (an average of 30 in each house) and associated industries were created. Banking, in particular, underwent considerable development.
For example, the Caisse d'Epargne opened a branch in Beaune at the beginning of the 19th century. In addition to being of capital importance to the local economy, the great wine Houses had an influence in government circles; their directors were also active in politics and the law …
Their political ideas were often linked to their influence on the economy. Generally seeking order and stability, the great wine houses supported the regime which preserved their company and guaranteed their financial interests.

1848 : Arrival of Napoleon III, whose economic liberalism was greeted with enthusiasm by the wine industry.

1870 : Antonin Bouchard was elected President of the Beaune Chamber of Commerce, a powerful trade union which defended the interests of the wine producers in the region. It was at this time that phylloxera arrived in Europe from the United States. The insect devours the roots of the vines and kills them. It destroyed many of the vineyards in France and began to attack the vines in Burgundy towards 1878, starting in Meursault.

The French Revolution in 1789 and the phylloxera crisis were the main causes of the drastic changes in ownership of vineyards in Burgundy, turning the Côte d'Or into a mosaic made up of tiny pieces of land. The years following the phylloxera crisis were far from favouring quality wine making in Burgundy. Above all, the will to produce quality vines which saved the quality of the Burgundian vineyards (some wine growing areas with similar characteristics and traditions did not survive). In addition, vineyards which were replanted in the best exposures, on the hillness sides survived, while many vines, in the Saône plain or on the upper hills, were not replaced.

Moreover, Burgundy has no access to the sea unlike Bordeaux and its vineyard and it was only due to the energy of the men, amongst whom the directors of the wine houses, that the commercial development of Burgundian wines was able to take place. Thus, at the end of the 18th century, Joseph and Antoine Philibert Bouchard were to be seen selling their wines in Stockholm and Berlin.

1886 : Scientists found a means of protecting the vineyards against phylloxera through American root-stock, which was immune to the insect. A new vineyard appeared, grown in rows and trained up wires, replacing the traditional method of planting vines in disarray and allowing the branches to trail along the ground and layer themselves. The wine of Burgundy was safe and its quality preserved.

1894 : " Meursault Goutte d'Or " produced from a grafted vine received a gold medal in the Paris competition.

1896 : The importance of Beaune and its surroundings was confirmed by the establishment of the Banque de France office in Beaune.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Beaune Chamber of Commerce was above all a representative body for wine shippers of liberal politics and constituted an important counterbalance to the protectionist Dijon Chamber.

From 1900 to 1905, the larger Wine Houses helped set up research and quality control by financing a large part of the building of the oenological station responsible for analyses used to detect fraud.

1900 : The French Red Cross having proposed sending Bouchard Père & Fils wines to the Universal Exhibition ; the company continued to expand abroad with the opening of trade to China. Thus, it was thanks to the Houses like Bouchard Père & Fils, who controlled the major part of wine sales before the 20th century, that the wine of Burgundy became more widely known.

1919 : The "appellations d'origine" system was created and further clarified by additional legislation in the 1930s ("Appellations d'Origine Contrôlée"). For the Burgundy region, the significant economic result of the First World War (1914-1918) was that winemaking became the primary activity and no longer a secondary source of income for most growers.

Despite a series of crises and wars during the 20th century, the wines of Burgundy maintained their world-class reputation, strengthened by the creation of the "Appellations d'Origine Contrôlée" system (AOC). In the 1950s, modernization gave a new start to the region. Today, a winery or "domaine" in Burgundy is considered a business in its own right.

While modernization has been a boost, the success of the famous "Grands Vins de Bourgogne" still rests on a commitment to quality on the part of the growers and winemakers of Burgundy.

With Courtesy of the Maison Bouchard Père et Fils