Municipality in Côte d'Or
Stage town for the first time.
Population: 3,200 (Gibriaçois, Gibriaçoises)
Specialities: 149 vineyards, including 24 in the commune, produce the Gevrey-Chambertin appellation, including 33 Grand Crus de Bourgogne under the Ruchottes-Chambertin, Mazis-Chambertin, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, Chapelle-Chambertin, Chambertin, Charmes-Chambertin, Griotte-Chambertin, Latricières-Chambertin and Mazoyères-Chambertin appellations. Beef bourguignon, rabbit stew, coq au vin, coq au Chambertin.
Personalities: Maurice Boitel and Pierre Roulot (painters), Claude Jobert de Chambertin (King's equerry), Jean-François Bazin (journalist and writer).
Sport: AS Gevrey-Chambertin (football).
Culture and festivals: Musique au Chambertin Festival (September), Grands-Crus Music Festival, Mois des Climats in June and July, Saint-Vincent tournante (Burgundy winegrowers' festival that changes host village every year), Marathon des Grands Crus, Roller Marathon through the vineyards and on the Route des Grands Crus.
Economy: winegrowing, wine tourism.
Labels: Ville à Vélo du Tour de France / Ville prudente / AOC Gevrey-Chambertin
Websites / FB / Twitter / Insta: www.gevrey-chambertin.com / www.ville-gevrey-chambertin.fr / www.cotedor.fr
GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN AND CYCLING
Gevrey-Chambertin has never before hosted the Tour de France, but this famous Burgundy appellation is not the first Côte d'Or wine town to raise its glass to the world's greatest cycling race. It was preceded by Nuits-Saint-Georges in 2017, Santenay in 1988 and Pouilly-en-Auxois in 1975. It's worth noting that the Nuits-Saint-Georges stage, seven years ago, passed through the commune: enough to give it ideas?
SIGHTS:
- Route des Grands Crus
Created: 1937
Characteristics: the Route des Grands Crus is a tourist route in France that crosses the most prestigious part of the Burgundy vineyards - thirty-eight picturesque wine villages in the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, between Dijon and Santenay - over a distance of 60 kilometres.
History: created in 1937, it marks the beginnings of wine tourism.
Special feature: it is nicknamed the Champs-Élysées of Burgundy.
- Château de Gevrey-Chambertin
Construction: 11th to 13th centuries.
Style: fortified castle.
History: the castle, which underwent extensive alterations in the second half of the 13th century, was a priory of the Cluny Abbey in the time of Saint Bernard (1090-1153). Hugues de Chalon, Bishop of Auxerre, and his sister Maheldis de Semur, both heirs to the County of Chalon, donated Curtis to the monastery of Cluny. The two abbots of Cluny gave the castle its final form between 1257 and 1275. It was then sold as national property during the French Revolution in 1791. It is now owned by a Chinese investor, who owns gaming circles in Macau.
Characteristics: at the end of its construction, the castle was a vast rectangle surrounded by moats, with a gateway (standing bridge and drawbridge) to the south-west, flanked by two square towers. To the south-east, a large square tower, to the north-east, a small round cul-de-lampe tower topped by a dovecote and to the north-west, a tower topped by a gallery. A wall with a covered walkway allowed passage from one tower to the other. Wars, pillage, fire and the passage of time have transformed the fortress, and all that remains of the original buildings are the gatehouse, the large tower and the dwelling adjoining the gatehouse.
Special feature: the château, which is also a wine estate acquired for €8 million in 2012, is not open to visitors.
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1993.
- Saint-Aignan Church
Construction: 13th to 15th centuries.
Style: Romanesque and Gothic.
History: the current building was constructed on top of an older building and dates mainly from the end of the 13th century. It probably underwent additional phases in the 14th and 15th centuries. At that time, the parish was part of the diocese of Langres, and then came under the authority of the diocese of Dijon when the latter was created in 1731. The church was relatively unscathed during the French Revolution. Various restoration campaigns took place in the 19th, early 20th and late 20th centuries.
Characteristics: on a basilica-type plan, the building comprises a choir with wooden choir stalls, a nave with four bays extending from the choir, a transept on the north and south sides, at the level of the first bay of the nave, a side aisle on the north side, a bell tower and a sacristy. Some Romanesque features remain.
Special features: the stone statues of Saint Aignan and Saint Nicolas stand in the two corners of the chancel.
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1932.
- Combe Lavaux-Jean Roland National Nature Reserve
The nature reserve is located on the Dijon coast, on the limestone edge of the Saône plain, in the communes of Gevrey-Chambertin and Brochon. The Combe Lavaux looks like a steep rocky cirque, with gigantic monoliths towering above it and scree covered with forest vegetation and boxwood. The nature reserve includes the Grandes Moissonières wood, the Combe Saint Martin, the Plain of les Essoyottes, the Combe Chaudron, the Grande Bossière, the Combe du Moine, wasteland and the Combe de Brochon. The nature reserve owes its name to the Dijon-born naturalist who, from 1992 to 2004, was the director of the association that has since become France Nature Reservations.
DRINK:
- Gevrey-Chambertin vineyard
The Gevrey-Chambertin vineyard is one of the most prestigious in Burgundy, and indeed in France and the world, with 310 hectares of Pinot Noir grapes vinified into red wine. The Gevrey-Chambertin vineyard alone produces 9 of Burgundy's 33 AOC grands crus: Ruchottes-Chambertin, Mazis-Chambertin, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, Chapelle-Chambertin, Chambertin, Charmes-Chambertin, Griotte-Chambertin, Latricières-Chambertin and Mazoyères-Chambertin. The commune's vineyards also boast a number of climates with the Gevrey-Chambertin premier cru appellation and the Gevrey-Chambertin communal appellation. Gevrey-Chambertin wines have a long ageing potential (10 to 20 years or more in exceptional cases). For Burgundies, they are highly coloured, powerful, with intense aromas and flavours reminiscent of blackcurrant, cherry, musk and liquorice. The power of Gevrey-Chambertin wines goes well with full-bodied, elaborate cuisine: grilled red meat, leg of mutton, beef bourguignon, rabbit stew, coq au vin, coq au Chambertin, strong cheeses, Epoisses, etc. (Burgundian cuisine).
