''For the restaurant, see Montrachet (restaurant)''
Montrachet (pronounced ''Mon-rashay''; ) is an ''
Appellation d'origine contrôlée
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bo ...
vineyard
A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyard ...
for
white wine
White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without skin contact. The wine color, colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured Juice vesicles, ...
made of
Chardonnay
Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new ...
in the
Côte de Beaune
The Côte de Beaune area is the southern part of the Côte d'Or, the limestone ridge that is home to the great names of Burgundy wine. The Côte de Beaune starts between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Beaune, and extends southwards for about 25 km ...
subregion of
Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The ...
. It straddles the border between the two communes of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet and produces what many consider to be the greatest dry white wine in the world. It is surrounded by four other Grand Cru vineyards all having "Montrachet" as part of their names. Montrachet itself is generally considered superior to its four Grand Cru neighbours, and this is reflected in its higher price.
Montrachet is located in the south of the Côte de Beaune, which is the southern half of the
Côte d'Or
Côte is a British cafe chain founded by Richard Caring, Andy Bassadone, Chris Benians and Nick Fiddler in Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cros ...
, which in turn is the most important of the several wine producing subregions of Burgundy.
The Montrachet vineyard is almost equally divided between Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet. Both of these appellations have, as is customary, appended the name of their most famous vineyard (in this case a shared one) to the name of their main village. The wine from the Chassagne side is usually known as Le Montrachet while the wine from the Puligny side is known as Montrachet.
History
In AD 92 the Roman emperor
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...
forbade planting new grapevines outside Italy. Indeed, some of the vines of Burgundy were ripped out to lessen competition. The vines that remained sufficed for local needs. The edict was annulled in AD 280. The Montrachet vineyard was first planted in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
. Although the date of its establishment is unknown, Pierre and Arnolet de Puligny gifted wines in "Mont Rachaz" to the in 1252.
During the 19th century, Montrachet, along with Burgundy as a whole, was ravaged by a succession of vineyard diseases. In the mid-nineteenth century oidium struck. At the end of the nineteenth century
phylloxera
Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bu ...
struck, eventually overcome by the grafting of European vines on American stock.
The Appellation Controlée system was introduced in Burgundy in 1935. Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet (see below) were both recognised as AOC Grands Crus in 1937.
Production
In 2008, of vineyard surface was in production within the AOC, and of wine was produced, corresponding to just under 47,000 bottles.
AOC regulations
Wines from Montrachet are composed almost entirely of Chardonnay, unlike in other white Burgundy wines, where up to 15% of Pinot Blanc can be added. These are, like most French wines, referred to by their place of origin rather than by grape variety. The allowed base yield of Montrachet is 40 hectoliter per hectare, and the minimum grape maturity is 12.0 per cent
potential alcohol
Must weight is a measure of the amount of sugar in grape juice (must) and, hence, indicates the amount of alcohol that could be produced if it is all fermented to alcohol, rather than left as residual sugar.Joseph Drouhin. The highest prices are typically charged for Montrachet produced by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, which owns and produces around 3,000 bottles per year.
The last sale of a subdivision occurred in 1993 when the Crédit Foncier bank (owner of
Château de Puligny
A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions.
Nowaday ...
) bought 428 m2 (4606 sq. ft.) for over half a million Euros.
Montrachet wines are the most expensive dry white wines in the world: prices can range from €150 to €2500 per 75 cl bottle. The price depends on the reputation of the producer (in Burgundy, vineyards are divided among multiple growers, and there can be substantial variation in quality) and the vintage.
Montrachet and its Grand Cru neighbours
Four additional Grand Cru vineyards lie alongside Montrachet and incorporate its name as part of their own; these are
Chevalier-Montrachet
Chevalier-Montrachet is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for white wine from Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy. It is located within the commune of Puligny-Montrachet. K. MacNeil ''The W ...
, which is situated immediately above Montrachet on the slope, Bâtard-Montrachet, which is situated immediately below Montrachet and is separated from it by the
Route des Grands Crus
The Route des Grands Crus (roughly, "road of the great wines") is the name of a tourist route situated in Burgundy, France.
The approximately 60-kilometre route runs along the foot of the Côte d'Or escarpment, from Dijon in the north to Santen ...
, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, which is situated immediately beyond Bâtard-Montrachet, in the direction of Puligny-Montrachet, and Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet, which is situated next to Bâtard-Montrachet in the direction of Chassagne-Montrachet. Chevalier-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet lie entirely within the commune of Puligny-Montrachet. Criots-Batard-Montrachet lies entirely within Chassagne-Montrachet. Batard-Montrachet, like Montrachet itself, is split between the two villages.
See also
*
French wine
French wine is produced all throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and Ameri ...