LOUIS LATOUR CHEVALIER MONTRACHET GRAND CRU LES DEMOISELLES 2002

Chevalier-Montrachet sits higher up the same hillside as the Montrachet appellation. In 1913 Domaine Louis Latour purchased this 0,51 hectare vineyard from the widow of Léonce Bocquet, who initiated renovations of a part of the Clos Vougeot Château. This vineyard carries the name “Les Demoiselles” in hommage to the daughters of an early 19th century Beaune General, Adèle and Julie Voillot, who were the owners of the vineyard and who died without marrying.

Maison Louis Latour is a major négociant producer of red and white wines, mainly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, in Burgundy. It was founded in 1797 and continues to be family owned and operated today. With roughly 29 hectares (72 acres) of grand cru vineyards, the domaine has the largest vineyard holdings of that kind of any producer in Burgundy. Furthermore, the company has a wealth of holdings all over the region, as well as in the south of France in the Ardèche and Var regions.

The Latour family have grown grapes as far back as the 17th Century in Aloxe-Corton. Over the years, they gained a 50-hectare (125-acre) domaine and built the Corton Grancey winery in 1834. This was built over five levels in order to make wines via gravity flow, and was the first of its kind in France. While the majority of Louis Latour’s vineyard holdings are in Aloxe-Corton (10.5ha of these are in the Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru vineyard), the company also makes wines in several other grand cru and premier cru vineyards, including Le Montrachet and Romanée-Saint-Vivant.