Chevalier-Montrachet
Styles
Principal grape varieties
Terroir
Natural factors
- The plots are located on an east/south-east-facing slope, on Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) formations, at an altitude of between 260 and 300 metres.
- The bedrock is composed mainly of highly fragmented limestones known as 'calcaire de Chassagne', yielding thin, very stony, free-draining, and low-fertility soils.
- Over successive generations, the soils have been stabilised and improved through stone clearance and the building of rubble cairns (murgers), or through the construction of dry-stone retaining walls.
- The nocturnal downslope drainage of air along the slope protects it from cold air masses and shields it from frost and humidity.
- The cool oceanic climate produces moderate and regular rainfall of approximately 750 millimetres per year, with no pronounced summer drought, and a mean annual temperature of 10.5°C.
Human factors
- A 1921 court ruling established the hierarchy of 'grand cru' wines of Puligny-Montrachet, reserving the name 'Montrachet' for the 'Vrai Montrachet' and authorising 'Chevalier-Montrachet' for wines from 'Chevalier'.
- The vines are trained at planting densities exceeding 9,000 vines per hectare, with an encépagement based on the Chardonnay variety.
Product characteristics
- The wines display a golden-yellow colour and combine body with finesse in perfect balance, with rich and complex aromas of hazelnut and honey interwoven with floral notes.
- Often showing a certain vivacity in their youth, these wines are distinguished by a very great capacity for ageing and evolve favourably over many years.
Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.
About this boundary
On the map, at overview zooms, this appellation is drawn as a silhouette of its vineyard generalised at 69 m from the INAO parcel delimitation; the parcels themselves appear as you zoom in.
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