Montrachet
Montrachet Grand Cru measures eight hectares of vineyards, spread across two villages, and produces a wine that many are prepared to call the finest dry white wine in the world. Montrachet is so small that you can walk across it in a matter of minutes, and so expensive that most of those who write about it have never tasted it. It should not be confused with Puligny-Montrachet or Chassagne-Montrachet, the villages. Montrachet itself is a Grand Cru, situated right at the heart of it all.
The location of Montrachet
Montrachet Grand Cru measures eight hectares of vineyards, spread across two villages, and produces a wine that many are prepared to call the finest dry white wine in the world. Montrachet is so small that you can walk across it in a matter of minutes, and so expensive that most of those who write about it have never tasted it. It should not be confused with Puligny-Montrachet or Chassagne-Montrachet, the villages. Montrachet itself is a Grand Cru, situated right at the heart of it all.
Montrachet is locatied in the southern half of the Côte de Beaune, which is itself the southern half of the Côte d’Or. The vineyard lies on the border between the communes of Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet, divided almost equally between them. Wine from the Chassagne side is usually labelled ‘Le Montrachet’; from the Puligny side, simply ‘Montrachet’.
It is surrounded by four other grands crus, all bearing this name. ‘Chevalier-Montrachet’ lies directly above on the slope, ‘Bâtard-Montrachet’ directly below, with a road running between them; next come ‘Bienven-Bâtard-Montrachet’ towards Puligny and ‘Crio-Bâtard-Montrachet’ towards Chassagne.
The appellation Montrachet Grand Cru
The Vineyards of Montrachet are here since the Middle Ages. No one knows exactly when winemaking or the cultivation of vines started, but in 1252 two brothers, Pierre and Arnolet de Puligny, presented wines from ‘Mont-Rasha’ to the Abbey of Mezières: it is the earliest recorded mention of Montrachet. ‘Mont-Racha’ means something like a hill that is stripped or razored, which may suggest how little vegetation grows there naturally.
The 19th century was a difficult time. In the middle of the century, powdery mildew appeared, and towards the end, phylloxera, which was only successfully combated by grafting European vines onto American rootstock. When the appellation system was introduced in France, Burgundy joined it in 1935, and Montrachet was recognised as a Grand Cru in 1937.
The vineyards
The vineyards measure just under eight hectares (7.99). In 2008, 349 hectolitres were produced here, amounting to just under 47,000 bottles, although the average yield over the previous five years was lower, 310 hectolitres. The permitted yield is 40 hectolitres per hectare, and the potential alcohol content in the grapes must be at least 12 per cent.
Terroir
This hill can hardly be called a hill, it is more of a rise between two villages. The vineyards are situated midway up the slope, where water drains well but the soil does not dry out, whilst the thin layer of soil over the limestone prevents the vines from producing an excessively abundant harvest. Mont-Racha, the name is the essence: there is little soil here, and that is precisely why the wine turns out the way it does.
Grape variety
Chardonnay, almost exclusively this variety. In other parts of Burgundy, the regulations allow up to 15 per cent Pinot Blanc, but this is not practised in Montrachet.
Who owns it?
According to the latest accurate figures from 2007, there are eighteen owners and twenty-six producers. The largest plot belongs to the de Lagish family, aristocrats since around 1300, who lease their plot to the house of Joseph Drouhin of Beaune.
The most expensive bottles are produced at ‘Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’, which owns 0.67 hectares and produces around 3,000 bottles a year. Other well-known owners of shares include ‘Domaine des Comtes Lafon’, ‘Domaine Leflaive’, ‘Ramonet’, ‘Bouchard Père et Fils’, ‘Baron Thénard’ and ‘Domaine Jacques Prieur’.
The plots almost never change hands. The last recorded transaction took place in 1993, when a bank purchased a plot measuring 428 square metres for a sum exceeding half a million euros
