Napoleon is said to have drunk Chambertin on campaign, and whether or not the story is true, the wine has had a reputation as a king among Burgundies for centuries. Gevrey-Chambertin is its home, a wine village of about three thousand people at the northern end of the Côte de Nuits, a few kilometres south of Dijon. The name has two parts: Gevrey is the village, and Chambertin, supposedly from the field of Bertin, is the vineyard that gave the village fame, to the point that it added the name in the nineteenth century.
The wine route here is the Route des Grands Crus, and it follows the D974, the old main road from Dijon to Beaune. It runs along the foot of the limestone slope, with the vineyards climbing above to the right and the plain stretching away to the left, and is a pleasure at a moderate speed, with gentle curves and little gradient. Traffic can be heavy, especially at weekends and harvest, and the road passes through a series of villages with speed limits that are checked. If you prefer a quieter ride, the lanes that wind through the vineyards are narrow and slow, but they let you see the walled clos, the famous small plots, at close range.
Gevrey has nine grand cru vineyards, among the most famous in Burgundy, all planted with Pinot Noir, the single red grape of the region. The soil is limestone and marl, and the slope faces east, catching the morning sun. The idea that a few metres of ground can change the taste of a wine is called terroir, and here it is taken very seriously: the local winegrowers have mapped and named every small parcel, which they call climats, and the Climats of the Burgundy vineyards were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2015.
The village also has a medieval castle, built by the monks of Cluny in the tenth century and rebuilt later, standing in the middle of the village, and a church with a Romanesque tower. The little streets are lined with cellars and tasting rooms, though the great estates are often by appointment. Burgundy food is rich and satisfying: boeuf bourguignon, eggs poached in red wine sauce, snails baked in garlic butter and, to finish, a plate of Époisses, a strong washed-rind cheese. Gougères, light cheese puffs, are the classic nibble with a glass.
Fuel and supermarkets are best found at Marsannay-la-Côte, about five kilometres to the north, or in Dijon. There are cafés and restaurants in the village, but as always in France, many close between lunch and dinner and on Mondays.