The Côte de Nuits: The Clos de Vougeot and Nuits-Saint-Georges
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
The Côte de Nuits: The Clos de Vougeot and Nuits-Saint-Georges
225 + 100 XP
The château of the Clos de Vougeot, built between the 12th and 16th centuries in the heart of the vineyard the Cistercian monks of Cîteaux assembled between 1109 and 1115 and walled, keeps the vat-house shaped like a cloister they built in the 15th century, with four monumental capstan presses in oak, each able to press four tonnes of grapes. The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, founded on 16 November 1934 at the Caveau Nuiton in Nuits-Saint-Georges, took the château on a 99-year lease in 1944 and runs it today; since 2015 it has also been the seat of the Climats de Bourgogne. Nuits-Saint-Georges built its belfry between 1610 and 1633 and has sold the wine of its Hospices at a candle auction every March since 1962.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Go down into the half-buried grand cellier, count the eight stone pillars holding up its timber roof, and find the lancet windows the monks used to control its light and temperature — it once held 2,000 barrels of 228 litres each
2
of 5
In the 15th-century vat-house laid out like a cloister, find all four of the monumental oak capstan presses and work out from the beams how four tonnes of grapes went into one of them at a time
3
of 5
Taste a Nuits-Saint-Georges at one of the old négoce houses in the town — Charles Viennot dates from 1735, Faiveley from 1825 — and ask about the bottle in Jules Verne's Autour de la Lune that led the Apollo 15 crew to name a lunar crater St George on 25 July 1971
4
of 5
Stand under the belfry in the old town of Nuits-Saint-Georges and read the three stages up it — the square house built 1610 to 1619, the tower 1619 to 1629, the lantern added in 1633
5
of 5
Walk the lane along the wall the monks built round the clos and look out over the 50 hectares of vines that surround the château — one single walled vineyard now divided between more than 80 owners
Go down into the half-buried grand cellier, count the eight stone pillars holding up its timber roof, and find the lancet windows the monks used to control its light and temperature — it once held 2,000 barrels of 228 litres each
In the 15th-century vat-house laid out like a cloister, find all four of the monumental oak capstan presses and work out from the beams how four tonnes of grapes went into one of them at a time
Taste a Nuits-Saint-Georges at one of the old négoce houses in the town — Charles Viennot dates from 1735, Faiveley from 1825 — and ask about the bottle in Jules Verne's Autour de la Lune that led the Apollo 15 crew to name a lunar crater St George on 25 July 1971
Stand under the belfry in the old town of Nuits-Saint-Georges and read the three stages up it — the square house built 1610 to 1619, the tower 1619 to 1629, the lantern added in 1633
Walk the lane along the wall the monks built round the clos and look out over the 50 hectares of vines that surround the château — one single walled vineyard now divided between more than 80 owners
Before you go
The château of the Clos de Vougeot opens every day, 9:30 to 18:00 from April to October and 10:00 to 17:00 from November to March, but is closed on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January, and parts of it shut when the confrérie holds one of its sixteen banquets a year — check before driving out. Guided tours are booked ahead and cost about 15 euros; otherwise you walk it with a leaflet. The Hospices de Nuits wine auction in March is a candle auction for the trade, usually held in the château's grand cellier, not an event you can walk into.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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