Chambertin Grand Cru

Chambertin is the climat whose name has stood beside Gevrey's since 1847. The Grand Cru covers about 13 hectares at the foot of the east-facing slope, between the Clos de Bèze to the north and Latricières-Chambertin to the south; across the Route des Grands Crus, farther down, lies Charmes-Chambertin. A local tradition traces the name to the “field of Berthin,” a farmer whose vines grew next to the Clos de Bèze.

In a deed of 1584, the canons of Langres, then its owners, refer to the “Climat de Champt Berthin”: for the Association des Climats, this is the earliest written record of the word climat. In the eighteenth century the négociant Claude Jobert gradually became its sole owner and took the name Jobert de Chambertin. In 1787 Thomas Jefferson counted it among his favorite wines; the memoirist Las Cases relates that Napoleon habitually drank it with his meals.

The soil is thin: at most a meter of stony debris, clays, and red silts over hard limestones, once quarried as building stone, and a layer of marl. The result is a deeply colored red with aromas of small red and black fruits, violet, forest floor, and licorice, able to develop for many years. Wines from the neighboring Clos de Bèze may also be called Chambertin.