Chambolle-Musigny is situated between Morey-St-Denis and Vosne-Romanee.  In term of fame, I believe Gevrey-Chambertin and Vosne-Romanee are more well-known.  However, if we are talking about quality, I firmly believe Chambolle-Musigny is in par with the best village in Cote de Nuits, if not better.

If you want to know why so many wine-lovers (including myself) are obsessed with Burgundy wine, you just have to get a bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin and a bottle of Chambolle-Musigny, then you can easily understand what “terroir” means and how wines from different villages taste so different (even if they are all produced from Pinot Noir!)  Gevrey-Chambertin is known for its muscular and powerful wine style.  Chambertin is the “King of Wines”.  In contrast, Chambolle-Musigny is much lighter in colour and body.  Yet, Chambolle-Musigny is usually extremely dedicate and perfumed, having a very silky texture and usually described as feminine.  While Chambolle-Musigny is extremely elegant, it also seems to process great power within.

Chambolle-Musigny is not a big village.  It has only 179 hectares, roughly one-third of Gevrey-Chambertin.  It is almost square in shape and boosts two Grand Cru vineyards.  Situated at the north and near Morey-St-Denis is Bonnes Mares.  Situated at the south and near Vougeot is Musigny.  Between Bonnes Mares and Musigny are the twenty-four premier cru vineyards.  Other than those vineyards situated at the north, most vineyards in Chambolle-Musigny have very high limestone content which resulted in wine of lighter colour, perfume and elegant.

Appellation Controlle：By this classification, the highest grade vineyard is Grand Cru, followed by Premier Cru and finally Village appellation.

Lavalle：Classification by Dr. Jules Lavalle in 1855.  Classified into three grades: 1ere Cuvee, 2eme Cuvee and 3eme Cuvee.  The very best vineyards were Tete de Cuvee.

Rodier：Classification by Camille Rodier in 1920.  Followed the same classification as Lavalle.

Grand Crus

Musigny (10.85 ha)

Musigny is absolutely the best vineyard in the whole Chambolle-Musigny and one of the very best vineyard in the whole of Burgundy.  Jasper Morris, for example, considers Musigny as the best vineyard in Burgundy, probably except the monopole of DRC La Romanee-Conti and La Tache.  To describe wine from Musigny, the description that I like the most is “iron fist in a velvet glove”.  What a good description!

Le Musigny can be divided into three areas, Les Grand Musigny (5.9 ha), Les Petits Musigny (4.19 ha) and Combe d’Orveau (0.77 ha).  To many people, the best producer of Musigny is Dom. Comte Georges de Vogue.  Comte Georges de Vogue owns the whole piece of Les Petits Musigny and most of the Les Grand Musigny.  The portion of Combe d’Orveau was included as part of Musigny only in 1929, which is now owned mostly by Jacques Prieur.  Other producers of Musigny include Mugnier, Joseph Drouhin, Leroy, de la Vougeraie, Louis Jadot, Drouhin-Laroze and Faiveley.  Since all these producers own vines vertically along the slope with different gradients and they are all reliable producers, Musigny Grand Cru is almost always a guarantee of quality.

One special thing to mention is Musigny Grand Cru produces not only red wine but also white wines.  Georges Comtes de Vogue planted some Chardonnay between 1986 and 1997.  However, given these vines are relatively young, Comtes de Vogue are just selling these white wines as Bourgogne White.  Having said so, if you believe this will be cheap, you will be very disappointed.  This Bourgogne white is selling at above HK$1,000 per bottle!

Les Bonnes Mares (15.06 ha)

Les Bonnes Mares is a Grand Cru that span Chambolle-Musigny and Morey-St-Denis，13.54 ha is located inside Chambolle-Musigny while  1.52 ha is situated inside Morey-St-Denis.  The Grand Cru of Clos de Tart which lies inside Morey-St-Denis, was part of Bonnes Mares in the 19th century but is now an independent and separate Grand Cru.

The soil composition of Bonnes Mares is very complex.  If we have to generalize, we can roughly divided Bonnes Mares into two areas diagonally from the northern corner to the southern corner (refer to the map).  The area towards the northern end has deeper colour and is known as terres rouges.  The area towards the southern end is lighter in colour and is known as terres blanches.

Wines from Bonnes Mares are usually having quite different characters from other Chambolle-Musigny.  Many people actually believe it is closer in style to Morey-St-Denis.  They are usually firmer, fuller in body and require longer time to mature.

While Musigny is definitely one of the very best vineyard int he whole of Burgundy, Bonnes Mares didn’t seem to be able to match Musigny in term of quality.

Premier Crus

Les Amoureuses (5.40 ha)

Les Amoureuses is the most well-known premier cru in the whole of Chambolle-Musigny and Burgundy.  Together with the fact that “Amouresues” means love in French, it is also one of the highest priced premier cru in Burgundy.  In term of style, Les Amoureuses is closer in style to Musigny than Bonnes Mares.  It is generally very perfumed, smooth but concentrated in flavour even though the style is usually described feminine.  Les Amoureuses is situated next to (but on a lower slope) of Musigny.  Robert Groffier has the largest holding of vineyard in Les Amoureuses.

Les Baudes (3.42 ha)

Situated near Morey-St-Denis.  Stylistically closer to Morey-St-Denis than Chambolle-Musigny with firmer structure.

Aux Beaux Bruns (1.54 ha)

Stylistically closer to Bonnes Mares which is more musculine.  In addition to the 1.54 ha which is classified as premier cru, there are areas in the lower sloped vineyard area of 0.92 ha that is classified as village appellation.  Ghislaine Barthod, Denis Mortet and Thierry Mortet are producers of the premier cru while Daniel Rion is producing wine of village appellation.

Les Borniques (1.43 ha)

Situated next o Musigny and has a very good terroir.  Production, however, is very small scale and they are not easy to be found.  Frederic Magnien and Heresztyn are recommended produces.

Les Carrieres (0.53 ha)

A very tiny piece of premier cru.  Gilbert Felletig is the major producer.

Les Chabiots (1.50 ha)

Situated next to Les Amoureuses.  Good terroir but very small production.  Serveau is the major producer.

Les Charmes (7.51 ha)

With the exception of Les Amoureuses, Les Charmes is probably one of the best premier cru in Chambolle-Musigny.  Together with the fact that it has 7.51 ha in size, it is also one of the most commonly seen Chambolle-Musigny premier crus.  When produced by a reliable producer, Les Charmes can be a very elegant wine reflecting how a classic Chambolle-Musigny should look like.  Recommended producers include Amiot-Servelle, Barthod-Noellat, Christian Clerget, Francois Bertheau, Grislaine Barthod, Leroy, Lucien Le Moine and Ponsot.

Les Chatelots (2.96 ha)

One of the premier cru with the richest soil.  Even though this is not an outstanding premier cru and usually quite four-squared, wines from Barthod-Noellat, Bernard Amiot and Herve Sigaut can still be good combining elegance and rich cherry flavour.

La Combe d’Orveau (2.38 ha)

La Combe d’Orveau is the only premier cru located on the northern side of Musigny.  All other premier crus are located south of Musigny.  Having almost the same soil characters as Musigny, this is one of the best Chambolle-Musigny premier cru.  Stylistically, La Combe d’Orveau is closer to Musigny than Bonnes Mares.  Many people consider a good La Combe d’Orveau is a mini-Musigny.  Recommended producers include Bruno Clavelier, Perrot-Minot and Faiveley.

Other than the section classified as premier cru, part of the La Combe d’Orveau is classified as village appellation.  Frederic Mugnier and Anne Gros are producing premier cru wine while Jean Grivot is producing village wine.  They are all good in quality.

Aux Combottes (1.55 ha)

Not many producers here.  Georges Roumier and Barthod-Noellat are major producers here.  Even though Aux Combottes may not be the best premier cru in term of terroir, given that both Georges Roumier and Barthod-Noellat are very good producers, their wines usually process very good fruit flavour and elegant.

Les Cras (3.45 ha)

One of the best Chambolle-Musigny premier cru.  Stylistically it is closer to Bonnes Mares than Musigny.  While the wine of Les Cras is usually having a very firm structure and relatively more muscular, it doesn’t lack elegance.  Georges Roumier and Barthod-Noellat are recommended sources of Les Cras.

Just as La Combe d’Orveau, there is a section of Les Cras which is classified as village appellation.  Patrice Buy eriacta online Rion is the major producer of village appellation Les Cras.

Derriere la Grange (0.47 ha)

A tiny piece of premier cru.  There are only two producers here, namely Amiot-Servelle and Louis Remy.  Amiot-Servelle is usually considered as a better source than Louis Remy.

Aux Echanges (0.93 ha)

Another tiny piece of premier cru wholly owned by Dom. Leymarie-Ceci.  However, it is uncommon to find bottle of Leymarie-Ceci as the grapes are usually sold to Nicolas Potel.  Therefore, it is more common to find bottle from Nicolas Potel.

Les Feusselottes (3.63 ha)

A Chambolle-Musigny premier cru with the richest soil.  Wines from Les Feusselottes usually have more black fruit flavours than red fruits and has relatively strong minerality.  Recommended sources are Georges Mugneret-Gibourg, Cecile Tremblay and Amiot-Servelle.  There are also bottles from negoicant of Meo-Camuzet which is usually quite good as well.

Les Fuees (4.38 ha)

Situated at the south of Les Cras.  Just as Les Cras, Les Fuees is considered to be one of the best Chambolle-Musigny premier cru.  It has a style closer to Bonnes Mares with firm structure and stronger black fruit flavours. Recommended sources are Jacques-Frederic, Barthod-Noellat, Perrot-Minot and Faiveley.

Les Groseilles (1.34 ha)

Although this is not a large sized premier cru, there are so many ownership here.  As a result, most producers will not produce their own bottles given the fragmented ownership.  There are negoicants producing Les Groseilles but wines of Groseilles are still quite uncommon.

Les Gruenchers (2.82 ha)

This is closer to Bonnes Mares in style.  Recommended sources are Dujac, Fournier and Thibault Liger-Belair.

Les Hauts Doix (1.74 ha)

Situated next to the north of Les Amoureuses.  Recommended source is Robert Groffier.

Les Lavrottes (0.92 ha)

Situated next to Bonnes Mares and very well situated.  However, given its tiny size, wines from Les Lavrottes are quite uncommon.  Recommended source is Olivier Bernstein.

Les Grands Murs (0.77 ha)

Situated next to Feusselottes and wines from Les Grands Murs may be labelled as Feusselottes.  Major source is Frederic et Michel Magnien.

Les Noirots (2.84 ha)

Closer to Bonnes Mares in style and quite a good quality premier cru.  Recommended sources are Bruno Clavelier, Herve Arland and Herve Sigaut.

Les Plantes (2.57 ha)

A premier cru that many may doubt if it qualifies.  Many consider this is only marginally better than village appellation.  Recommended sources are Amiot Servelle and Jacques Cacheux.  Frederic Mugnier is selling this wine as village wine instead of premier cru.

Les Sentiers (4.89 ha)

Situated on the east of  Bonnes Mares and unsurprisingly closer to Bonnes Mares in style.  Recommended sources are Robert Groffier, Herve Arlaud, Herve Sigaut, David Duband and Michel Magnien.

Les Veroilles (0.60 ha)

90% of Les Veroilles is classified as village appellation.  Only 0.6 ha is classified as premier cru.  It is situated on the upper slope of Les Veroilles and closer to Bonnes Mares in style.  The whole premier cru section is owned by Barthod Noellat and is a very good quality premier cru.