Burgundy History: The Impact of the French Revolution

The French Revolution had a huge impact on the history of Burgundy!

Right before the French Revolution in 1789, the vineyards of Burgundy were mostly under the control, ownership or management of the nobility and the monks.

During the revolution, the vineyards were taken away from the monks and the nobility and put up for auction, ostensibly to even out the playing field for all the regular people.

Unfortunately for the peasants, the only people who could afford the large land holdings or the prime vineyards were the already rich merchants and bankers, and they were only able to buy mostly the less qualitative lands on the plains or in the high plateaus.

The peasants were able to gain some land along the way, but it's like a regular person buying little bits of stock here and there while the big hedge funds and private equity funds are making the big trades on the stock market.

The vineyards were also rented out to the peasants, which resulted in the fragmentation of the vineyards, which became further fragmented with the institution of the Napoleonic Code in France, which mandated that inheritances be split equally among all of one's children. One of the reasons why the producer names sound so confusingly similar. 😆

Today, all of that fragmentation has resulted in Burgundy claiming an impressive 25% of the French wine appellations, despite covering only 4% of the AOC vineyard area.

The wines of Burgundy are delicious, but they also hold centuries of rich history in their bottles. ☺️

Savigny-les-Beaunes was the first Burgundy village I ever remembered drinking, and La Dominode is one of the top premier crus of this village!

What was the first Burgundy village you remember drinking?