Clos de Beze
The Clos de Beze is of course inseparably linked to the vineyard of Chambertin to its immediate south. Historically the Clos de Beze I have always felt as the ‘senior” of the two vineyards. It was established earlier - in 630 no less. And by 640 it is believed a wall had been build around it. 1,350 vintages (even with a few gaps) makes for hallowed ground indeed ! The name Chambertin doesn’t appear in records until the thirteenth century, but for a long period prior to the twentieth century, the Chambertin name seems to have been used for both vineyards with the name Clos de Beze falling into disuse. And of course the town attached the name of its then most famous vineyard - Chambertin - to its name in 1847. Jasper Morris informs that the Clos de Beze name was really revived by the AOC rules set in place in the 1930s, by which the identity of the Clos de Beze was re-established. Those rules also of course determined that the grapes from the Clos de Beze may be bottled as Chambertin if one choses but not the other way round. In practice however, no one with enough grapes in the Clos de Beze to allow for a separate bottling calls this wine Chambertin - it is always bottled as Clos de Beze. Which choice seems to reinforce the historical prominence of the Clos de Beze.
These tangled alignments almost oblige one to have a view as to which is preferred. The vineyards are both separate but wholly linked. The reality though is that the wines are quite different and, within the context of Burgundian divisions, this difference is significant enough to be more than a matter of nuance.
Others have articulated better than can I how the vineyards are different from the point of view of aspect and soils. I do not propose to repeat those observations except to say that Beze has a slight rise in its centre, which means that as you walk north from Chambertin, the Clos de Beze slope inclines slightly to the south and as you walk on. as you approach Mazis Chambertin, the Clos de Beze slope inclines slightly to the north. When I last walked its length I found it quite uneven in aspect. The top part of Chambertin is right up against the trees which makes this part of the vineyard more humid, whereas the Clos de Beze has the Belair vineyard above it before you reach the trees. The Combe Giscard impacts to cool the southern part of Chambertin. The Clos de Beze does not benefit from this.
What I think is important to understand is that the Clos de Beze should be the more elegant wine, and sufficiently elegant as not really to merit the epithet “The Wine of Kings’. It should not be a “masculine” wine but a wine of fine aromatics and complex red fruit. It should absolutely be less substantial and powerful than the Clos de la Roche in Morey Saint Denis, for example. And it should also be less powerful than Chambertin itself. What can confuse perhaps in this assessment is that the vineyard can of course produce bigger more powerful wines if the winemaker so desires. Between Faiveley and Jadot who produce fairly powerful wines and Damoy, who pick so extremely late as to preclude great elegance in the resulting wine, from 6.5 of the overall 15 hectares wines of real elegance are not produced. In practice one is looking to Rousseau, Drouhin Larouse and Bruno Clair as standard bearers for the more graceful style of wine that the vineyard is known for, and Maison Drouhin who actually buy a lot of grapes for their cuvee.
I have not drunk enough to know but I am told that of the two the Clos de Beze is often preferred when young but that Chambertin normally excels over the very long haul.
It may be the case that Chambertin performs slightly better in warmer years - because of the cooling influences of the Combe - whereas the Clos de Beze does better in cooler years. This is the view of Eric Rousseau, who would know.
For my part I buy a few bottles of Bruno Clair’s interpretation when I can. But none of these wines are any longer at a price point that I can readily afford. Drinking any Grand Cru Burgundy induces in me a sense of great privilege. But for me, that sensation is never more strongly felt that when I sit before a glass of Clos de Beze. It is surely the holy of the holies.
I am particularly indebted to Jasper Morris for his insight on the Clos de Beze, which was the subject of a podcast he presented through 67 Pall Mall on October 13, 2020.