The very name Chassagne encapsulates several meanings: small cassine (derived from the Latin 'capsea') or little house, or the house of a Cassius, or even an area planted with oak trees. Montrachet stems from Mont Rachaz, the rocky mountain where nothing much grows!
In 1879, the commune of Chassagne-le-Haut changed its name to Chassagne-Montrachet. The appellation officially came to life in 1937. This appellation harbours 57 Premier Crus, including the most flamboyant, the Premier Cru Morgeot Clos de la Chapelle. The Chassagne-Montrachet vineyards produced only red wines before the phylloxera outbreak in 1871. Today, they are predominantly white, the beating heart of the golden triangle of Burgundy’s finest whites.
Surprisingly, Clos de la Chapelle stretches across flat ground. An extensive vineyard developed through decades of vine cultivation, surrounded by a hand-built dry-stone wall in the typical Burgundian style, protected as it was in the past by an upright stone cover. Two imposing gates grace the main entrances, engraved with a cross which evokes the title of the site.
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