2002 Butterfield et Robinson Chapelle-Chambertin elevage Claude Dugat

Butterfield et Robinson takes its name from the Canadian couple who in 1966 founded a tour company based on bicycling. At the time it was unheard of to offer luxury sightseeing tours on bicycles, but George Butterfield and Martha Robinson discovered that slow travel had great appeal. Today Butterfield & Robinson is a leader in luxury slow travel, offering international bicycling and walking tours that come with deluxe hotel stays and full-service attention. It was while leading a bicycling tour through Burgundy in the early 1990s that George Butterfield met the legendary Claude Dugat, one of Burgundy’s most respected vignerons. Butterfield knocked on Dugat’s door to ask if his bicycle group could lunch out of the rain in Dugat’s shed, having no idea of Dugat’s fame. Butterfield also got a tour of Dugat’s cellar, only to discover that Dugat’s wines are generally sold out well in advance of their release. In the following years, Butterfield and Robinson tried to buy Dugat’s wines without success. Eventually they came up with the idea to buy vineyard property near Dugat and ask him to make the wine. He agreed. Today the couple owns one-fifth of an acre of the Chapelle-Chambertin vineyard, and, as the French say, the wine is “vinifié, elevé, et mis en bouteille” by Dugat. Butterfield and Robinson own the land, Dugat makes the wine. Some 450 bottles are produced annually.

Chapelle-Chambertin is a 13.5-acre Grand Cru vineyard just north of Griotte-Chambertin in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin. Its name comes from the chapel of Notre Dame de Beze, a chapel built in 1155 by the monks of Abbey de Beze and demolished several centuries later during the French Revolution. There is not much slope in this vineyard, nor much soil. Louis Jadot and Claude Dugat have small parcels here, though the largest landholders are Pierre Damoy, 5 acres; Ponsot 1.7 acres; and Jean and Jean-Louis Trapet, 1.5 acres.

This red wine is relatively light and can pair with a wide variety of foods. The grape prefers cooler climates and the wine is most often associated with Burgundy, Champagne and the U.S. west coast. Regional differences make it nearly as fickle as it is flexible.

Vinifié, elevé, et mis en bouteille par Claude Dugat