Wine Tourism17 April 20269 min read

Napoleon and Chambertin: The True Story of the Emperor's Favorite Wine

Simon Stoll

Oenosuite Founder

Military bicorne hat resting on a wine barrel in a Gevrey-Chambertin cellar, historical evocation of Napoleon's Chambertin

The Emperor and His Cru: A Passion Born in the Côte-d'Or

Chambertin is a Grand Cru from the Côte de Nuits produced on 12 hectares, 90 ares and 13 centiares in the commune of Gevrey-Chambertin, exclusively from Pinot Noir. If this wine has crossed the centuries as one of Burgundy's most prestigious, it owes part of its modern glory to an illustrious admirer: Napoleon Bonaparte, who made it his daily wine for nearly fifteen years, from his rise to power to his exile on Saint Helena. Behind the imperial anecdote lies a true story, documented by the Memoirs of his valet de chambre Constant, by Emmanuel de Las Cases's account in The Memorial of Saint Helena, and by the ledgers of wine merchants Soupé and Pierrugues, based at 338 rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, who supplied the Emperor with five-to-six-year-old Chambertin.

Auxonne, 1788: The Encounter

It all begins on June 15, 1788. The young Second Lieutenant Napoleon Bonaparte, then 18 years old, arrives in Auxonne, a small garrison town in the Côte-d'Or located some thirty kilometers east of the Burgundy wine route. He would remain there, with a few interruptions, until June 14, 1791, when he was promoted to First Lieutenant in the 4th Artillery Regiment at Valence. It was during these three years spent in Burgundy, artillery officer training, studious reading, first political ambitions, that the future emperor discovered the great wines of the Côte. Historians place his discovery of Chambertin during this posting, in contact with fellow officers and the Burgundian tables of the region.

A Bottle in Every Battle

Once First Consul and then Emperor, Bonaparte maintained an almost obsessive loyalty to this one wine. His valet de chambre Constant Wairy wrote in his Memoirs that 'the Emperor drank only Chambertin, and rarely neat.' Emmanuel de Las Cases confirmed at Saint Helena that for fifteen years he drank exclusively this Pinot Noir from Gevrey-Chambertin. The warrior was a man of habits: he consumed half a bottle at every meal, systematically diluted with iced water, a practice that would horrify any modern sommelier, but which probably reflected a known gastric sensitivity.

This logistical requirement was anything but symbolic. The Parisian house of Soupé and Pierrugues had committed to supplying the Emperor with a bottle of Chambertin under all circumstances, including in the thick of military campaigns. The wine thus accompanied him from Austerlitz to Wagram, during the Egyptian campaign where it crossed the Mediterranean and the desert twice without deteriorating, helping to establish Chambertin's reputation as a great cellaring wine, and all the way to the frozen Russian steppes of 1812, where, according to contemporary accounts, an aide-de-camp kept a bottle against his own chest to maintain it drinkable despite the extreme cold.

Chambertin: A Wine Already a Millennium Old

When the young Corsican officer tasted his first Chambertin, the vineyard was already more than a thousand years old. The neighboring and inseparable parcel of the Clos de Bèze was donated in 630 by Duke Amalgaire to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Bèze, the oldest documented vineyard cadastre in the Côte de Nuits, and one of the oldest continuously cultivated vineyard parcels in Europe. According to tradition, a peasant named Bertin planted, in the 12th century, a parcel dedicated to the same grape variety alongside the Clos, with the ambition of rivaling the monks: his 'Champ de Bertin' (Bertin's Field) became, by contraction, 'Chambertin.'

The modern appellation boundaries were fixed by the decree of May 21, 1937, which enshrined Chambertin as an AOC Grand Cru. It is one of the nine Grands Crus of Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambertin, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, Charmes-Chambertin, Chapelle-Chambertin, Griotte-Chambertin, Latricières-Chambertin, Mazis-Chambertin, Mazoyères-Chambertin and Ruchottes-Chambertin, which together cover approximately 80 hectares of exceptional terroirs in a single commune, a density unique in the world. Chambertin stricto sensu produces around 40,000 bottles per year, fiercely sought after by enthusiasts worldwide.

Fixin and the Clos Napoléon: Imperial Memory in the Vineyard

The imperial legacy is not merely anecdotal: it has left a concrete imprint on the Burgundian wine landscape. In Fixin, a village located a few kilometers north of Gevrey-Chambertin, there exists a Clos Napoléon, a Premier Cru monopole of Domaine Pierre Gelin, covering 1.83 hectares and producing around 8,500 bottles per year. This parcel, formerly registered as 'Aux Cheuzots', was renamed in tribute to the Emperor by its owner, Claude Noisot (1781-1861), a former officer of the Imperial Guard and grenadier of Napoleon.

Retired to Fixin in 1835 after his military career, Noisot purchased five hectares of steep land on the heights above the village, whose rugged relief reminded him of the island of Elba. There he developed a park-sanctuary dedicated to the Emperor, planted with Laricio pines imported from Corsica in homage to Bonaparte's origins. The central monument, Le Réveil de Napoléon (The Awakening of Napoleon), sculpted by François Rude, was inaugurated on September 19, 1847, before several thousand people. Today, the Musée Noisot and the Clos Napoléon are essential stops for anyone visiting the Côte de Nuits with an eye on history.

Visiting Gevrey-Chambertin in the Emperor's Footsteps

Gevrey-Chambertin is today one of the most visited appellations in the Côte de Nuits, and rightly so: its medieval village, château, nine Grands Crus and exceptional density of domaines open to the public make it an essential stop. To follow in Napoleon's wake, several experiences are available to visitors: a walk or cycle along the Route des Grands Crus, which traverses the Chambertin and Chambertin-Clos de Bèze parcels; a visit to the Musée Noisot in Fixin to grasp the human dimension of the imperial cult; and, of course, a tasting at one of the appellation's historic estates, Armand Rousseau, Dujac, Trapet, Bruno Clair, or Faiveley, to name only a few.

A few practical tips: Gevrey-Chambertin is best visited outside peak hours. Most estates close between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., and the best tasting experiences, particularly on Grand Cru parcels, must be reserved in advance, sometimes several weeks ahead in high season. To fully enjoy this historical and viticultural immersion, nothing beats staying in the heart of the vineyard. oenosuite.fr offers immersive suites in Dijon, less than thirty minutes from Gevrey-Chambertin, the ideal base from which to explore the Côte de Nuits and its thousand-year-old climats at your own pace, glass of Chambertin in hand, just like the Emperor before you. Ideally without diluting it with water.