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Chambertin


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Chambertin, often known as "King of Wines", is Gevrey-Chambertin's most famous Grand Cru and one of the best in Burgundy. Historically, the vineyard has been shared by a number of owners, so consistency has never approached that of monopoles such as Romanée-Conti. However, most producers are good, and for those who love the style it can't be rivaled anywhere else in the world.

There are actually 9 Chambertin vineyards, including Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, which is allowed to label its wines as Chambertin. The main Chambertin vineyard is about 37 acres, which yielded about 5,000 cases of wine in 2008. Except for Charmes-Chambertin, Chambertin itself is the most productive and largest of all Chambertin vineyards.

In recent years the reputation of the satellite vineyards has caught up with Chambertin itself, and a slight slump in quality has reduced the reputation the Chambertin appellation. But from the great producers, a style of wine is produced that is rarely replicated even in other Grand Cru vineyards, and certainly nowhere outside the Côte d'Or. Rich, powerful and concentrated, the best wines have decades of aging potential and after the right term, show a distinctively Burgundian game flavor.

History

All the Chambertin Grand Cru AOCs were officially recognized in 1937, but the area's history stretches back long before then. It is alleged that the Clos de Bèze vineyard actually has a longer history, but when a competitor started up the Chambertin vineyard, his offerings quickly superseded those of Clos de Bèze. The turbulence continued when a vigneron acquired both vineyards in 1702.

Eventually, Chambertin was set up to be the main vineyard and the other 8 as essentially satellites. Then, however, a number of new owners bought into Chambertin and quality became lower than that of the Clos de Bèze vineyard again. This has remained true for decades now, but a number of new offerings are spicing up Chambertin and it is possible that the vineyard may return to the top spot.

Climate and Viticulture

Unlike many other Grands Crus, the Chambertin vineyard is not set on a hill. In fact, the land of the vineyard is essentially flat, but it contains a high enough concentration of limestone and clay to compensate for this possible disadvantage. The depth and layered nature of the soil makes for deep, layered wines, in a generally similar firm and intense style. This goes for many of the other Chambertin vineyards as well.

Grape Varieties

Major Producers

Chambertin has a huge number of producers, and all of them make pricey wine due to the presence of the Grand Cru label. Some of it, however, doesn't measure up to Grand Cru level. This is unfortunate, but there are still enough good producers here to make the appellation very much a worthwhile one.

We found exactly 10 producers that we consider to be Chambertin leaders.

Subregions

Refer to the Gevrey-Chambertin Grands Crus section in order to see the list of the village's Grands Crus. Chambertin is most closely linked to Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, but all of these 9 make wine of a similar style. Within Chambertin, though, labeling is fairly straightforward, with producers labeling their wine as Chambertin or Le Chambertin. In some rare cases, Chambertin-labeled wine may come from the adjacent Chambertin-Clos de Bèze vineyard, but this is not a problem, as that vineyard has equal or higher quality to Chambertin itself.