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Burgundy
History
We do not know exactly when, but at some point during the Roman period, between 52 bc, when Julius Caesar defeated Vercingetorix at Alesia, and ad 312, when one Eumenius made a political speech during which he complained about the dilapidated state of local vineyards, the vine was introduced to Burgundy--or Gallia Lugdunensis as it was known at the time. The name Burgundy only came into being with the arrival of the Burgondes in the fifth century. Originally from the Danish island of Burgundarholm (now Bornholm), this Scandinavian people first migrated to the Danube basin but were forced to move on by the Huns and Vandals. Subsequently, they were sucked into the vacuum created by the collapse of the Roman Empire, ending up in what is now eastern France.
The Bourgondes in turn were overrun by the Franks under Clovis. The Franks were Christians, and there is evidence that under their rule the church began to play a significant role in developing vineyards. For instance, in ad 775, Charlemagne, the great Frankish leader, who is immortalized in the Grand Cru Corton-Charlemagne, donated a parcel of vines in Aloxe-Corton to the Abbey of St-Andoche. The Church's role became even more significant following the founding of the monasteries. The Cistercian monks of Citeaux developed the vineyard now known as Clos de Vougeot and enclosed it within a wall (the clos) as early as the fourteenth century. Around the same time, the Abbeys of St-Vivant and Beze were also cultivating vineyards in Vosne-Romanee and Gevrey-Chambertin respectively, and these are now enshrined in the Grands Crus of Romanee St-Vivant and Chambertin Clos de Beze.
The Burgundian state enjoyed its most glorious period under the Valois Dukes of Burgundy (1364-1477). Their courts, based in Dijon and Beaune, were among the finest and richest in Europe. Though it never quite became a kingdom, Burgundy was a state in its own right, an independent duchy that was at times more powerful than the neighboring kingdom of France. It came to an end with the death of Charles the Rash and Burgundy's absorption into France.
In the eighteenth century, much-improved transport systems, especially new canals, created potential for exporting wines, and many merchant houses, the ancestors of today's negociants, were founded. Most of the vineyards remained in the hands of the church and nobility, but the profes-sional middle classes were also becoming landowners. Significantly, they were keen to sell their produce, in contrast to the nobility who tended to keep their wine for their own enjoyment.
Radical changes took place following the French Revolution in 1789. Church and nobility were dispossessed of their property and many famous vineyards were sold at auction. Perhaps more significantly, the Napoleonic Code changed the laws of inheritance so that all children had to receive equal shares of a family property. Thus began the fragmentation of the vineyards that has made the Burgundian wine scene such a hotchpotch today.
The eighteenth century also saw the appearance of the first wine book on Burgundy, which was written by the Abbe Claude Arnoux in 1728 as a textbook for an English pupil. More comprehensive studies were published in the nineteenth century, by Dr Morelot in 1831 and Dr Lavalle in 1855; the latter included a detailed classification of contemporary Burgundian vineyards which still looks fairly accurate today.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Burgundy was hit by the multiple scourges of oidium, mildew, phylloxera, and economic depression; these were quickly followed in 1914 by the First World War, which decimated the male population. Further economic depression in the 1920s and 1930s saw the emergence of the cooperative movement and estate bottling as alternative sources of supply to the negociants. In 1935, the system of appellation d'origine controlee and the official classification of vineyards into village, Premier Cru and Grand Cru were introduced.
The burgundy of the 1930s was not as we know it now. Because pinot noir did not ripen every year, and since it is not naturally a deeply colored grape, the wines were often supplemented by darker, fuller-bodied wines from the south and even from Algeria. Some of these dubious blends continued to be shipped as late as the 1970s.
In the 1980s, winemakers attempted to return to a purer burgundy; unfortunately, they didn't have the expertise that is available today and the resulting wines, as well as being pale, lacked depth and concentration. Now, many different styles of burgundy are available, some pale but fine, others darker and more extracted. Never before have there been so many competent, quality-driven producers of this wonderful wine.
From "Encyclopedia of Wine"
©Global Book Publishing Pty Limited 2000
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