clos de vougeot

If you are interested in the history and story on wine in Burgundy this is the pale you must visit. Near the most famous wineries in the region and surrounded by some of the best wines in the region, this ancient monastery is where Burgundy wine tranditions began.

If you've already fallen in love with the wines, a visit to Clos de Vougeot is a peek at the fascinating history of the region. It's well organised with impressive displays of equipment and a warm cinema to watch a movie that sums it all up nicely. The movie is actually interesting and entertaining. Such things I would normally expect to leave wishing I hadn't gone in but this was really very good. The entire centre is well done.

Glad I saw it but would not particularly want to return or to recommend others to see it due to time and cost. There is nothing wrong with what it is or what you see because it is all beautifully clean and restored, but at this point it is a very commercial venture. The old grape presses were interesting and huge and the facility where this was done was enormous. That is about the most impressive thing to see.

The location is marvelous, then chateau restored magnificiently. We saw a PR-film which was a bit too much, showing the members of the society which owns the castle celebrate their rituals of alcoholism.

We mad a bike trip from Chevrey-Chambertin to Clos de Vougeot. The Chateau is today a museum, but really interesting to see and learn about how they did produce their wine in earlier years. A Chateau in great suroundings in the middle of large wine yards. Lovely!

Enjoy visiting this amazing castle and learn the process of wine making on the way. Frequent tours (in French) and also English information are at your disposal. Extremely nice hosts!

After phylloxera (a vine bug) nearly wiped out the French fine wine industry a group of winegrowers created a society to promote Burgundian wines. they called themselves les confreres du tastevin; dressed themselves in fancy robes and invited international celebrities to become members. Bingo, wines of the region became popular - and very expensive - again. This is where they hold their ceremonies. It is very grand. Surrounded by vines, and crammed with tourist buses every day so go early if you want to miss the crush. Worth half an hour or a glass of wine somewhere else.

Beautiful and ancient building really well maintained and open to visitors for just 5 euro. Fascinating history of the monks wine empire but unfortunately there is no wine on site to sample or buy. Great spot for photos and a good way to spend and hour before wine o clock arrives.

Museum offers great education on the wine tradition built by the monks at Vougeot and Burgundy, it is useful to add a visit to the Abbaye of Citeaux that is close by to obtain a full perspective on the importance of the monks for centuries

Nice chateau to visit. Presses are impressive. Well maintained grounds.Easy to find. While we visided, half the ground were closed for a conference.

I have been in wineries in Spain, California, Australia and South Africa. This is by far the worst experience I have had. Since we arrived, the attendant had a bad attitude and refused to do the wine tasting for us, claiming they were not a regular winery, that they were the best winery in the world and they didn't sell "drinking" wine like everywhere else. Their wines had to be aged for at least 10 years and she immagined we didn't have a cellar at home, unlike french people who she claimed "everyone in france" had one at home. We had to leave and never got to taste their wine. What an example of french superiority complex!

On the advice of the Beaune tourist office we stopped here on our way to Dijon. The Clos was originally an abbey that was built in the 12th century and now a winery. It was interesting to walk around the buildings, unfortunately for us the only tour was in French, but we were given an English guide to help us around. Of most interest were the huge wine presses and vats. The old cellar is now for banquets only. No wine tastings were included in the tour. About 1 hour is as much as you would need for a visit.

It's considered a must-see in Burgundy. And given its place in history, it's rightly so. After all, it's the birthplace of the legend, the Burgundy wine. However, the self aggrandizing of the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin is excessive and comical. While the old cellar is now used as a banquet hall for their lavish parties, vistors are encouraged to watch a short film that says virtually nothing about the history of Burgundy wine but how awesome these "knights" are (with the lord of the rings soundlike) Do yourself a favor, skip the movie and go further down to Romanee-Conti's vineyard instead.

The setting of this Chateau is magnificent. When you visit from a young country such as New Zealand, the age of the cellars, the well, Vat house etc is amazing. The wine presses are incredible to see and the inside of the roof lines are a site to see with the workmanship. It is the largest fully walled vineyard in Burgundy.

Likes: * Historic (Thomas Jefferson visited)* Walk the vineyards surrounding the property* See how wine used to be madeDislikes: * It's nice but no more than 1 hour needed