An Appellation That Exists on Paper, Not on the Shelves
Of the three grands crus of the Corton hill, Charlemagne is by far the least used. The cahier des charges is nonetheless in force and up to date, and imposes the same obligations as its neighbours, down to the mention "grand cru", which must appear beneath the name of the appellation in characters at least two thirds the size of those of the name. But almost all the growers whose parcels are entitled to the appellation claim Corton-Charlemagne instead, more legible and incomparably more sought after on the market.
The orders of magnitude say everything: in the BIVB survey of 2008, only 0.28 hectare was in production under the Charlemagne appellation, for a total of 7 hectolitres — the equivalent of about three barrels. In the same year, Corton-Charlemagne claimed 52.44 hectares and 2,237 hectolitres. A ratio of one to three hundred. The French version of Wikipedia goes so far as to write that the appellation "is no longer claimed"; that is a simplification, since a few estates continue to bottle under the name, but it conveys the scale of the phenomenon.
Why This Appellation Still Exists
The answer lies in a comparison of the two cahiers des charges, which are practically twins. Identical geographical area — Aloxe-Corton, Ladoix-Serrigny and Pernand-Vergelesses. Identical planting: chardonnay as the main variety, pinot blanc as an accessory limited to 10% of the planting and 30% of the blend, aligoté tolerated on a transitional basis. Minimum density of 9,000 vines per hectare, irrigation prohibited, continuous presses prohibited, wood chips prohibited, minimum sugar richness and a minimum natural alcoholic strength of 12%: nothing distinguishes them. Base yield 40 hl/ha, maximum yield 54 hl/ha in both cases. Ageing until 15 June and release to market after 30 June of the year following the harvest, again identical.
The only real difference is the delimited parcel area, approved by the INAO national committee on 20 September 1984 and lodged at the town hall: that of Charlemagne is far narrower, tightened around the climats that bear the emperor's name. In other words, every parcel eligible for Charlemagne is also eligible for Corton-Charlemagne, but the reverse is not true. Faced with two possible labels for the same wine, the producer rationally chooses the one that sells better. The appellation therefore survives in law, as a historical right never repealed, without existing commercially — a textbook case in Burgundy.
The Terroir: Le Charlemagne and En Charlemagne
Two neighbouring climats carry the appellation: Le Charlemagne, in the commune of Aloxe-Corton, and En Charlemagne, in that of Pernand-Vergelesses. Both occupy the upper part of the Corton hill, on the band of limestone mixed with marls that outcrops below the Bois de Corton, where erosion has carried away the clay cover. These are the same climats that supply, together with Les Pougets and Les Languettes, most of the corton-charlemagne.
Domaine de la Vougeraie, which farms parcels in both climats, describes a siliceous, highly calcareous soil, silty and very stony — the "terre blanche" characteristic of the top of the hill. Its parcels lie between 250 and 320 metres in altitude; Le Charlemagne is described as a steep south-facing parcel, En Charlemagne as an upper slope facing south-west. That westerly orientation, less generous than the eastern faces of the hill, delays ripening and gives tauter wines, more flinty than sun-filled.
The Name: An Attested Donation, an Added Legend
The name, for its part, is historically grounded. In 775, Charlemagne gave the greater part of the Corton hill to the collegiate church of Saint-Andoche at Saulieu, which had been destroyed by the Saracens in 731. Domaine de la Vougeraie recalls that this vineyard remained in the hands of that religious community for more than a thousand years. A "Clos le Charlemagne" appears in a lease of the chapter of Saint-Andoche dated 1375: the place name is therefore attested in the Middle Ages.
The most often repeated episode, on the other hand — the emperor's wife having the reds pulled up to plant white so as to spare his beard — is presented by encyclopaedic sources as a later legend, with no contemporary testimony. Two facts also invite caution: André Jullien, in his Topographie de tous les vignobles connus of 1816, mentions no white at Corton, and aligoté remained the hill's main white variety until the end of the nineteenth century. The reign of chardonnay is therefore not a Carolingian inheritance but a recent construction.
The Rare Bottled Charlemagne
A few estates deliberately choose to keep the appellation alive, and therein lies the whole interest of the thing: to drink a Charlemagne is to drink a wine whose label is rarer than its contents. Domaine de la Vougeraie, at Premeaux-Prissey, publishes a technical sheet for it vintage by vintage: its parcels covered 0.2183 hectare in Le Charlemagne and 0.2772 hectare in En Charlemagne according to the figures published on its website, with plantings from 1954-55, 1957-58 and 1989-90, a density of 10,000 vines per hectare, Guyot pruning and ploughing by horse.
The estate states that it has farmed Le Charlemagne organically since 1998, certified in 1999, and biodynamically since the 2001 season, while En Charlemagne, acquired later, moved to organic and biodynamic farming from 2012. This information comes from the sheet published by the estate and describes a situation liable to change: areas and farming methods evolve, and an estate may at any time decide to claim Corton-Charlemagne rather than Charlemagne for the same harvest.