The citadel, founded in around 1000 AD, derives its name from the Nuicthons, or walnut trees, which were abundant nearby. The strong ramparts protected its inhabitants, nobles, wine growers and religious communities. In the 18th century the town started to export its wine, and several wine merchants sprung up in the following century. The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin was created here in the 1930s. To help protect the wine industry, badly hit by the Great Depression, they created the Saint-Vincent Tournante wine festival and the Tastevinage seal of approval.
Jules Verne’s Around the Moon was the inspiration for the Apollo 15 astronauts, who christened the crater closest to their landing site Saint Georges. At the base of the crater, along with a little Texan soil, they placed a label of Nuits-Saint-Georges cuvée Terre-Lune. A wine of interplanetary renown!