Domaine du Clos de Tart

Clos de Tart traces its origins to 1141, when Cistercian nuns of the Abbey of Tart established this walled vineyard in what is now Morey-Saint-Denis, in the Côte de Nuits. The enclosing walls define a single coherent parcel that has never been broken up by inheritance or sale, an almost unique survival among Burgundy's Grand Crus. The nuns held the clos for roughly 650 years until the French Revolution, after which it was bought by the Marey-Monge family in 1791. That family owned it until 1932, when the Mâcon négociant house Mommessin acquired the estate as the sole bidder at auction during the economic crisis. Mommessin would hold Clos de Tart for the next 85 years, maintaining the continuity of single ownership that defines the vineyard.

• Established 1141 by Cistercian nuns of the Abbey of Tart
• Held by the nuns for roughly 650 years until the French Revolution
• Bought by the Marey-Monge family in 1791, who owned it until 1932
• Acquired by the Mommessin family in 1932 as sole bidder at auction

The sale of Clos de Tart was agreed in 2017 and completed in 2018, when François Pinault's Artemis Domaines bought the estate for an undisclosed sum widely reported at around 200 million euros, then among the highest figures ever associated with a single vineyard. Artemis Domaines, led by chief executive Frédéric Engerer, also oversees Château Latour, Domaine d'Eugénie, Château-Grillet, and Eisele Vineyard in California. The estate had been shaped over nearly two decades by régisseur Sylvain Pitiot, who mapped its plots in detail before retiring after the 2014 harvest. Jacques Devauges directed the transition and the organic conversion before leaving for Clos des Lambrays in early 2019, and Alessandro Noli, previously at Château-Grillet, was appointed Estate Director in March 2019, making 2019 his first full vintage from vine to bottle.

• Artemis Domaines (Pinault family) bought Clos de Tart, agreed 2017 and completed 2018
• Frédéric Engerer is chief executive of Artemis, alongside Château Latour and Château-Grillet
• Sylvain Pitiot mapped the plots over 1996-2014; Jacques Devauges led the transition to 2019
• Alessandro Noli, from Château-Grillet, became Estate Director in March 2019

The entire Clos de Tart Grand Cru occupies 7.53 hectares of clay-limestone soils within Morey-Saint-Denis, planted exclusively to Pinot Noir. At that size it is the largest wholly-owned Grand Cru monopole in Burgundy. The nearby Clos des Lambrays covers a little more ground, around 8.8 hectares, but a tiny parcel within it remains in separate hands, so it is not a true monopole; Clos de Tart, by contrast, has never been divided. It is one of only five Grand Cru monopoles in Burgundy, alongside Romanée-Conti, La Tâche, La Romanée, and La Grande Rue. The vineyard is worked as roughly 27 distinct plots, each reflecting its own slope and soil, with vines averaging around 60 years of age. A second wine, La Forge de Tart, is a Morey-Saint-Denis Premier Cru from the youngest vines, and a village Morey-Saint-Denis was added to the range from 2018.

• 7.53 hectares of walled clay-limestone vineyard, 100% Pinot Noir
• Largest wholly-owned monopole in Burgundy; Clos des Lambrays is larger but not a true monopole
• One of only five Grand Cru monopoles in Burgundy
• Worked as about 27 plots; second wine La Forge de Tart and a village Morey-Saint-Denis since 2018

Winemaking at Clos de Tart is defined by meticulous plot-level separation, with each parcel of the vineyard vinified individually to preserve its character before the final blend. A new wooden vat room, replacing the previous stainless-steel tanks, was inaugurated for the 2019 vintage to give Noli the flexibility to ferment the plots apart. Fermentations rely on natural yeasts, and the wines are matured in oak barrels before bottling. Organic certification was achieved from the 2018 vintage after a conversion begun under Devauges, and biodynamic certification followed for the 2019 vintage. The result is a single-vineyard wine of remarkable consistency, shaped less by recipe than by the detailed reading of the clos that successive directors have refined over the past three decades.

• Each plot vinified separately to preserve its character before blending
• A new wooden vat room replaced stainless steel for the 2019 vintage
• Natural-yeast fermentation followed by maturation in oak
• Certified organic from the 2018 vintage and biodynamic from 2019

Clos de Tart occupies a singular position in Burgundy because it brings together the rarest historical, legal, and viticultural distinctions in one walled vineyard. As the largest wholly-owned Grand Cru monopole in the region, and one of only five Grand Cru monopoles in Burgundy, it shows what unbroken single ownership across nine centuries looks like in a glass. The Pinault family's investment reset expectations for what irreplaceable terroir can be worth and underscored the appetite of luxury groups for Burgundy's rarest sites. For students of the WSET Diploma and Master of Wine programs, the estate is a reference point for understanding monopoles, Grand Cru classification in Morey-Saint-Denis, and the meeting of Cistercian heritage with modern biodynamic practice.

• The largest wholly-owned Grand Cru monopole in Burgundy and one of only five overall
• Nearly 900 years of continuous single ownership through just four owners
• The 2017-2018 acquisition reset benchmarks for single-vineyard valuations
• A key study reference for monopoles, Morey-Saint-Denis Grand Cru, and biodynamic conversion