The month of April this blog will be devoted to the Burgundy wine district. The inaugural three-part series discusses the critical importance of Burgundian monks in developing the wine industry in France.
Hundreds of years before Bordeaux was even a wine region, the 10th century monks of Burgundy were honing the craft of wine production. These Burgundian wine-making clergy were not only vinifying wine but they were actually selling it. Think of these monks as the first full service wine company: they grew the grapes, made the wine, bottled and stored it in the church cellar, marketed the wine during church service, and finally sold it to the congregation. They actually invented the wine business.
During the Middle Ages Christianity was on the rise across all of France. It didn’t take long before red wine became a sacred drink, symbolizing the blood of Christ. With religion becoming important in French culture, bishops and monks had a prominent role in French society. The Dukes of Burgundy (the reigning nobility) began gifting churches with large parcels of land. By 1098, monks controlled much of the best vineyards of Burgundy. By the 1400’s, the wine of these Burgundian monks was recognized throughout Europe as top quality.
By far the biggest contribution of Burgundy’s wine-making monks was their diligence in mapping out each plot of earth in their vast estates. The clergy studied each parcel and created a patchwork quilt map. They identified which part of their vineyards produced the best grapes and why. Their analysis took into account all of the elements that we know today produce great wines: soil, drainage, exposure to the sun, wind, topography, humidity, pests etc. The monks then built stone walls around the best vineyards. These parcel defining walls were called “clos.” (Clos means wall in French). These clos remain today and are responsible for producing Burgundy’s Grand and Premier Cru (top quality) wines.
In effect, Burgundy’s
clergy were the first to develop the concept of terroir. For winemakers
around the globe, terroir is everything
in producing a quality wine. Although
there is no literal translation into English because terroir is not a word but a conecpt, terroir can be defined as the sum of ingredients
in the environment that effect grape-growing conditions. Every one of the elements the monks used to
map out their vineyards is intimately involved in producing a great wine and
have become part of the Bible of wine
production.
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