This week, I was inspired by the trivia question posed by another blogger, Talk-a-Vino, who asked a question about Burgundy on his blog a few days ago. One of the answers (which I believed to be the correct response) was ‘Corton’. There was a time that the vineyards of Corton were all planted to red grapes, but today, Aloxe-Corton (where the Corton vineyards are found) is the rarest of wine producing villages in Burgundy–it is the only one that has Grand Cru vineyards in both white and red (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for you non-Burghounds out there).
As I was thinking about the quiz for today during my ride home last night, I started thinking about those white Grand Crus from Corton (which are oh so tasty) and the rather interesting story behind them. First, here is a quickly taken photo of a map of the vineyards (which is displayed in our dining room–yes I am a wine geek):
On the map, the red colored plots are planted to Pinot Noir, with the darkest hue designated as ‘Grand Cru’ (the ‘middle’ hue are Premier Cru vineyards and the lightest are village designated). The yellow colored plots are all planted to Chardonnay, and for the most part are all Grand Cru. That gets us to today’s quiz:
- The Chardonnay produced in Corton is associated with the name of a certain person in French history–who is it?
- Why is it that his/her name has become associated with those white wines?
Have fun with the quiz–answer next week!
the drunken cyclist 
The answer to 1 should be Charlemagne (an AOC that I believe is all Chardonnay – I have a couple of pretty good bottles!) but I do not know the answer to 2, so I will be looking forward to it next week!
Take care
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Thanks for stopping by Stefano!
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I think the answer to 2 is because Charlemagne would spill red wine on himself, which looked poorly since he was emperor and all. Therefore he would drink white wine to rid himself of this problem
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Thanks for the response–answers next week!
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I can only guess that you are alluding to the Emperor Charlemagne in 8th century, and the legend that his wine requested that the white grapes would be planted as red wine drippings didn’t look good on his graying beard. You can also deduct a point as I used Google to find the answer…
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Point deducted. And you are very close!
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Google gives it up immediately.
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Google? What’s that?
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It’s what you do after you brush your teeth.
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I have no clue … but there seems to be others above who know.
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They are certainly close, but there is one key tidbit missing….
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hmmmm ….
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