Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru "Les Criots"

A vineyard of 1.57 ha, Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet is the only Grands Crus to be located entirely within the commune of Chassagne-Montrachet. At an altitude of 240m, it is situated a little lower than its neighbors Chevalier-Montrachet and Montrachet. The soils of this very well exposed parcel are made of scree and are relatively well-drained. "Criots" comes from "chalk", the subsoil is composed of Bathonian limestone sometimes mixed with clay. Legend has it that at the time of Crusades, there was a castle on the hill of Montrachet. The Lord sent his only to the Holy Land to fight. The man had a young mistress whom he met at the “Clos de la Pucelle”. She had a child. The son who went on the Crusade was named Chevalier-Montrachet, and the illegitimate child, Bâtard-Montrachet. When the Chevalier-Montrachet died in the Holy Land, the lord took his illegitimate son as his successor, who was acclaimed: “Welcome to the Bâtard-Montrachet!” Legend has it that the lord, inconvenienced by his young son’s crying, cried out in the Burgundian dialect “a crio (he shouts) l’Bâtard”. After the destruction of the Château, the vines would bear the names of these characters, in memory of this story.