At over 1,000 years of age, this vineyard is certainly one of the oldest in Chassagne-Montrachet and has been contributing to the renown of the village's wines thanks not only to their quality, but also to the hospitality and business acumen of its former owners.

Clos Saint Jean used to belong to nuns from the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Jean-Le-Grand d'Autun established in 589 by Brunehaut, a Frankish queen. This estate not only provided the sisters with a source of income, but also an opportunity to welcome visitors in keeping with their Rules.

Thanks to donations from rich benefactors, religious congregations began prospering and were able to develop their estates during the Middle Ages. Viticulture often played an important role.

Highly symbolic, and an essential feature of Christian liturgy, wine was a major factor not only of spiritual development, but also temporal power.

As the ecclesiastics were not subject to inheritance laws with its inevitable divisions, they managed to maintain the unity of their estates until the French Revolution.

In 1789, the abbey of Saint-Jean-Le Grand d'Autun was taken over by the French state, at which time its holdings, including the Clos (or "walled vineyard") were split up and auctioned off to several buyers.

Classified in the "Hors Ligne" category in 1855, the Clos is still very famous for the quality of its vines and is mostly planted with Pinot Noir.

Appellation: Chassagne-Montrachet "Clos Saint-Jean" 1ER Cru AOC
Area: 3294m²
Production: 230 cases

Grape variety: 100% Pinot Noir - red wine
Pruning: Cordon de Royat
Training: Trained low - 10000 vines per hectare
Average age of the vines: Vines planted in 2003, first vintage 2005
Cultivation methods: Ploughing (no herbicides) - Compost as necessary
Vineyard protection: Supervised control

Parcel: Located beneath a limestone quarry that provides stone for building material
Soil: Rocky outcrops at the top and in the middle with predominately light red soil
Topography: Gentle slope becoming steeper towards the bottom
Altitude: 265 metres
Exposure: South-east

The grapes are hand-picked and immediately brought to the vat room, where they are sorted (to remove leaves and unripe or damaged grapes) and completely destemmed. Once destemmed, the grapes are left on their skins in temperature-controlled vats for about ten days with daily pigeage (punching down of the cap) and pumping over in order to extract colouring compounds and tannins. The alcoholic content and temperature are carefully monitored throughout the fermentation process. When the time is right, the wine is run off from the vat. If necessary, it is lightly chaptalized prior to devatting in order to obtain a better balance between alcohol and acidity. Nevertheless, chaptalization can never replace natural sugar that comes from sunshine, and must always be used sparingly. After devatting and pressing, the wine is put into barrels.

As soon as alcoholic fermentation in the barrel comes to an end, the secondary, malolactic, fermentation begins. This converts malic acid into lactic acid, thereby reducing overall acidity and ensuring stability. When the malolactic fermentation is finished, the wine is racked and brought down to the underground cellars to continue barrel ageing at a temperature of 10-12°C. The wine ages on its fermentation lees in 228-litre French oak barrels (one quarter of which are renewed every year) where it will spend a total of 12-18 months depending on the vintage.

At the end of barrel ageing, the wine is fined with egg-white to guarantee quality and clarity. A final blend is made from various barrels after the last racking. This blend is lightly filtered and then bottled at the Domaine.