Vosne-Romanée holds an exalted status in the minds of burgundy ‘worshipers’

October 1, 2010

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Vosne-Romanée: Village Profile

Vosne-Romanée holds an exalted status in the minds of burgundy ‘worshipers’ – in this context I use the term, worshiper assuredly – any day of the week, rain or shine, you will see a steady flow of worshippers making a pilgrimage up a bumpy road that is barely wide enough for their car, to have long-suffering wives (usually, but not always) take their photo next to a stone plaque in a low wall; a plaque that bears the name Romanée-Conti. The flow of people is so high that this year the domaine has placed a notice on the same wall asking people to respect the vineyard and keep out of it!

Of-course the village is not only about one vineyard, perfectly demonstrated if we look to the 1913 classification of the Côte d’Or vineyards by Monsieur Raymond Brunet (A Travers les Grandes Vignobles) – whose work had more than a passing nod to the earlier work of Jules Lavalle – he ranked his top ten red wine vineyards from one to ten. Of the top five, remarkably only one lay outside the borders of Vosne, and that was the second placed Clos de Vougeot at which time had only 15 proprietors – though a mere 20 years earlier (from which most of its esteem was doubltlessly based) it was still under a single ownership – a monopole. For the record, his top 10 are shown in the table, right:
As you will by-now have noted, not for nothing is Vosne-Romanée known as the ‘the pearl of the Côte’. Recieving its AOC on the 11th September 1936, Vosne-Romanée today covers just over 200 hectares of vineyards that nestle between Nuits St.Georges and Flagey-Echézeaux – in 1861 only 167 hectares had such a classification.
From a historical perspective it’s impossible to to talk about Vosne-Romanée without reference to the Abbey of Saint Vivant and the Croonembourg family. That the Abbey of Saint Vivant also controlled the next-door village of Flagey-Echézeaux and because it’s premier cru vineyards are also called Vosne-Romanée is reason enough for me to include them in this profile.
Records suggest that Vosne certainly existed as a village in the sixth century though the spelling of ‘Vosne’ was often changed. In 890 the priory of Saint-Vivant which was to be linked to so many of Vosne’s vineyards was established by Manassès the 1st and his wife Hermengarde – Manassès was vassal to Richard the Justiciery, but a very high-powered vassal, as between them they owned most of Burgundy! The priory which was subordinate to the priory of Vergy (itself part of the Cluniac order) started with 28 people before eventually losing both its status and lands during the revolution. During the twelfth century the lands dependant on the village of Flagey-Echézeaux and the village itself came into the possession of the abbey. What the abbey didn’t own was mainly in the possession of the Croonembourg family, indeed it was the Croonembourgs that sold in 1760 the vines which would one day be called Romanée-Conti to Jean-François Joly who was acting for the the Prince de Conti. The ruins of the abbey are slowly being restored and still form a vital part of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s work, as the latest vintage is usually housed there until the previous year’s is bottled.
Not until 1866 was Romanée appended to Vosne, the new name was part hommage, part marketing and without doubt brought (indeed still brings) an extra level of cachet or recognisability to ‘Vosne’ and its ‘average’ wine. Some people ask why append the name Romanée – as in La Romanée – rather than Romanée-Conti?: Setting asside the less sonorous qualities of Vosne-Conti or Vosne-Romanée-Conti, the vineyard known today as Romanée-Conti only took that name in 1764 – for many years before, it was simply known as ‘Romanée’.
In 1797 the last Abbot of Saint-Vivant died – François Trouvé – his body rests in the church of Vosne. Vosne has known plenty of hard times, either from pestillence or war it sits on a knife-edge of boom or bust; amongst others there was great suffering due to the Austrian occupation of 1814-15, and again around 1870 due to a nearby battle during the Franco-Prussian war. Phylloxera followed, as did the two world wars – it is only the last 1-2 generations that have seen some consistent reward – particularly the current generation, though the next ‘pest’ could be just around the corner…

The village itself always appears very quiet; a worker here or there, walking up the small incline towards the vineyards though most do this in white vans or on their giraffe-like tractors. Vosne-Romanée actually straddles the Route Nationale 74, though only a few houses are to be found on the eastern side of the road, and none of the vines are classed as ‘Vosne-Romanée’. On the western side of the road, there are few domaines of repute – e.g. Robert Arnoux and also a new hotel; Le Richebourg. Working your way up the incline you will pass diverse architecture – grand houses are dotted between much humbler dwellings. Approaching the heart of the village – which officially (I suppose) should be the open square in front of the large ‘Marie’ – you are already bordering the vines; Chaumes to your left and the Clos des Réas behind you. Look directly at the Marie (pictured above) and you have a choice of route; to the left is the road that will take you up the Route des Grands Crus, to the right a road that passes the Château de Vosne-Romanée of Domaine Comte Liger-Belair that comes to the church square and the main bus-stop – this, to me, feels more like the village centre.

Source: http://www.burgundy-report.com/144/vosne-romanee-a-profile/

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