Domaine Clos de Tart

History

Clos de Tart occupies a singular position in Burgundy, not just for the quality of its wine but for the unbroken coherence of its history. The vineyard takes its name from the Bernardine nuns of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Tart, who acquired the site in 1141 and held it until the Revolution. It was among the first vineyards in the Côte de Nuits to be enclosed by a wall, and that wall still stands. Following the Revolutionary seizure of church property, the estate passed through private hands before spending the better part of the twentieth century under the ownership of the Mommessin négociant family, who held it from 1932 onward.

In 2017, François Pinault, the French billionaire behind Château Latour, acquired Clos de Tart from Mommessin. The transition was significant. Pinault's approach at Latour, long aging, a patient commercial strategy, unhurried release schedules, signaled the kind of investment he was prepared to make here. Jacques Devauges, who had worked at the domaine under Mommessin and continued under the new ownership, has been the continuity figure in the cellar. The estate also produces a Premier Cru from a parcel called La Forge de Tart, within the broader Morey-Saint-Denis appellation, and a village-level wine, giving the range three distinct tiers beneath the Grand Cru.

Vineyards

The Clos de Tart Grand Cru is a monopole of approximately 7.5 hectares, sitting on the mid-slope of Morey-Saint-Denis between Bonnes-Mares to the north and Clos des Lambrays to the south. The exposure is east-facing, and the soils are a mix of limestone and clay with varying depth across the clos. The upper section of the vineyard tends to be shallower and stonier; the lower section has more clay influence. Devauges and the team have mapped the parcel in considerable detail, vinifying it in multiple separate lots to account for these internal differences.

La Forge de Tart, the Premier Cru, draws from a parcel adjacent to or near the Grand Cru. Since the Pinault acquisition, farming has moved toward organic practices, though the precise certification status and timeline are not fully documented in public sources.

Winemaking

Devauges works with a high proportion of whole clusters, a deliberate choice that contributes structure and aromatic complexity without tipping into the green register that whole-cluster can produce in less skilled hands. Fermentation is in open-top vessels, with careful extraction. The Grand Cru sees extended aging in oak, with a significant proportion of new barrels, though the domaine has been attentive to integrating oak rather than using it as a flavoring agent. Lots from different sections of the clos are aged separately and assembled before bottling. The wines are not filtered, in keeping with the norms for serious Burgundy at this level.

The commercial strategy since 2017 mirrors what Pinault implemented at Latour: wines are held back and released later than the Burgundy market expects, with the goal of putting bottles on the market closer to a window of real drinkability. This has created some friction with the traditional en primeur and early-release rhythm of the Côte de Nuits, but it reflects a genuine philosophical position about when these wines should be opened.