Chateau de la Chaize Brouilly 2001
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2019-
Robert
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James
Suckling
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In 1674, François de La Chaize d’Aix, steward of Lyon, purchased the land known as La Douze at the foot of Mont Brouilly, in southern Beaujolais. He hired France’s most esteemed architect at the time François Mansard to build the château and assigned André Le Nôtre, famed-gardener to the king of France and head designer for the gardens of Versailles, to build the gardens around Château de La Chaize.
Château de La Chaize is among the oldest, most historic estates in Burgundy’s Beaujolais region. Cared for by the same family for nearly three and a half centuries, the estate has been passed on to new owners, the Gruy family, who are equally committed to managing the estate with the utmost care, while implementing an ambitious environmental plan. Among the many initiatives is the conversion of all vineyards to organic farming, the adoption of precision viticulture, reducing carbon their carbon footprint, and recycling every by-product from viti- and vinicultural activity, to achieve zero waste.
The estate covers nearly 300 ha of contiguous land, including 100 ha of vines in Brouilly. This ownership offers Château de La Chaize the autonomy to apply specific viticultural practices, which affect soil life, fauna, and flora diversity. Woodlands and meadows surround the estate, forming a natural barrier around the vines. These serve as “tools” for controlling the environment of the vineyards and contributes to a balanced, rich and thriving ecosystem.
Celebrated as some of the best wine in the universe, red wine from Burgundy, otherwise known as red Burgundy, is Pinot noir. In fact Burgundy is the birthplace of Pinot noir and the source of the planet’s most sensual, delicate, valuable and sought-after Pinot noir wines.
Understanding and enjoying red Burgundy can stay simple, with a basic knowledge of its subregions, become more intricate by dialing down to the villages and vineyards or become a life-long passion, exploring climats (plots of vines), vintages and the post French Revolution land ownership laws. In any case, a fine red Burgundy will display refined nuances of black currant, red fruit, earth, spice, alluring floral aromatics and have great elegance, complexity and longevity.
Most famous, praised and collected of Burgunday are those from the Côte d'Or. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the area now called Côte d'Or was under a warm ocean whose sea floor has, over time, shifted and decomposed into various layers of limestone, sandstone and clay interspersed with ancient fossilized sea creatures. This is what is referred to as the famous escarpment upon which all of the highly sought-after Grands Crus and Premiers Crus vineyards can be found. In other words, from north to south, the best vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echezeaux, Nuits-St-Georges, Aloxe-Corton, Pommard and Volnay follow the path of this ancient sea bed.