Vineyard Insight: Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos des Corvées Pagets

One of my favourite vineyards in Nuits-Saint-Georges is the Clos des Corvées Pagets – located south of Clos de Covées. Both these vineyards were formerly a part of Aux Corvées, an historic lieu-dit. The clos are only part of this terrific, larger vineyard from which domaines such as Arnoux-Lachaux and Prieure-Roch produce great wines.

So let’s take a closer look at this vineyard, its history, and the different sections and plots. What is (or was) Aux Corvées and what is Clos des Corvées Pagets?

Premeaux-Prissey – the missing appellation

The village of Premeaux lost its own appellation during the classification of Burgundy in the 1930s, and its vineyards are now part of the large – and sadly very diverse – Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation.

On the northern end of the Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation, we have one or two sections that are more closely related to Vosne-Romanée. South of Nuits-Saint-Georges is the “classic” Nuit-Saint-Georges area, with vineyards like Les Saint-Georges. And below this, we have the southernmost part of the appellation: the Premeaux area (or if you like, the Premeaux-Prissey appellations).

1. Clos des Grandes Vignes
2. Les Forêts
3. Aux Perdrix
4. Clos des Corvées
5. Clos des Corvées Pagets
6. Clos St. Marc
7. Les Argilliéres
8. Clos Arlot
9. Clos de la Maréchale

The Premeaux appellation (most of it shown on the map above) is an important area, with several monopoles and appellations that have experienced tremendous improvements in quality over the last 10-15 years.

History of Aux Corvées – three monopoles and a vineyard

As said, Premeaux has several monopoles, and three of them are located within the area that used to be called Aux Corvées, at the northern end of Premeaux: Clos St. Marc, Clos des Corvées Paget, and Clos de Corvées.

The cadastral illustration from 1827 show that those vineyards were considered as one – Aux Corvées – when the cadastre map was drawn up (see below).

Moving on to the 1861 classification,¹ this is still the case: These terroirs were considered as one, totalling 7.83 hectares.

There was no mention of Clos des Corvées, Clos des Corvées Pagets, or Clos St. Marc in the 1861 classification, despite Lavalle mentioning all three parts of Aux Corvées separately in his earlier, 1855 book.²

Today, Clos des Corvées Pagets encompasses 1.5613 ha, split among five cadastre plots. Clos des Corvées totals 5.2110 ha, all in one cadastre plot (no. 41). Both these vineyards are registered as Aux Corvées in the cadastre, while Clos St. Marc (0.9013 ha) is registered as Clos St. Marc, and no longer associated with the Aux Corvées name (in the cadastre at least). 

In reality, it seems like the current size and borders of the three vineyards were decided after Rodier wrote his book in 1920.³ This most likely happened when the classification of Premeaux-Prissey was finalised in 1936.⁴

The ownership history of Aux Corvées

Going back to the old sources, Rodier mentions only three owners of Clos des Corvées Pagets in 1920: the Hospice de Nuits; Jean Cognieux; and Charles Vienot, which sold its plot to Arnoux-Lachaux some 60 years later.

Moving back to Danguy & Aubertin in 1892,⁵ we have a number of owners of Aux Corvées listed:

• Rossigneux
• Durantiere
• Brünninghaus
• Les Héritiers Galland
• L’Hospice de Nuits
• Charles Vienot
• Arséne Perrier

It’s uncertain if this list contains all the owners of Aux Corvées, or perhaps also includes some of the owners of Clos St. Marc and Clos des Corvées Pagets, as these are mentioned separately. Arséne Perrier was mentioned as the owner of Clos St. Marc and some of Pagets, along with Cognieux-Monin and Vienot (two are mentioned in the list above, and one name is new).

Going back to Lavalle in 1855, we have the following owners of Aux Corvées detailed:

• Hasenclever (2 ha)
• Adolphe Geisweiler (3.33 ha)
• L’Hospice de Nuits (0.50 ha)

This area, however, is larger than the current Clos des Corvées, so I think Lavalle also mixed up the terms here, as Aux Corvées is mentioned as being 7.8340 ha, thus including both Clos St. Marc and Clos des Corvées Pagets. In Pagets, M. de Curley and Mme. Carrier are also mentioned as owners by Lavalle.

Clos des Corvées Pagets – a small gem

For me, Clos des Corvées Pagets is one of the overlooked beauties of Premeaux and Nuits-Saint-Georges. Its area is 1.5613 ha, with the top producers being Arnoux-Lachaux and Domaine de la Vougeraie, but the Hospice de Nuits and Chateau de Premeaux also have a part of the clos. Furthermore, a few barrels are sold to negociants like Marchand-Tawse, where Pascal Marchand and his good people make a lovely Clos de Corvées Pagets.

Let’s take a closer look at the individual plots.

The Chateau de Premeaux plot of Clos de Corvées Paget

Chateau de Premeaux, which is owned and managed by the Pelletier family, has the southernmost plot of Clos de Corvées Pagets (1 on the map below).

The cadastre plot (no. 26) is 0.3048 ha, and is just north of the wall that separates the Clos de Corvées Pagets from the Clos St. Marc monopole of Domaine Michele et Patrice Rion.

You need to login as a Premium subscriber to read the rest of this article. If you are not a Premium Subscriber, use the subscribe function and sign-up.