Le Clos Goillotte – a unique Vosne-Romanee village

Vosne-Romanee Clos de la Goillotte is a hidden gem… and in my view one of the very best village terroirs in Burgundy.

The Goillotte vineyard is located inside Vosne-Romanee just south of the La Goillotte estate, and below La Tache … with the Clos d’Eugenie separating Goillotte and La Tache.

The History of La Goilotte and Le Clos Goillotte

The Chateau La Goillotte was made by and for the Prince of Conti in 1763 – the estate include a winery and a large mansion with a beautiful old park. Just south of this park we find the vineyard now called Le Clos Goillotte. The original purpose of the estate was the vinification of La Romanee – now known as Romanee-Conti – a vineyard Louis-Francois de Bourbon – Prince of Conti – acquired in 1760.

It is doubtful if the Prince himself ever stayed at the Chateau², and the mansion was therefore used by his estate manager². According to the website of Domaine Prieure Roch the estate was converted into a more conventional residence around 1820³.

The vineyard In front of the La Goillotte mansion was covering approximately 1 ha 1836 ³ i.e. much larger than the current Le Clos Goillotte (0.55 ha).

The cadastre map from 1827 – see below – show the original size of the vineyard – before the village was expanded with more houses and buildings.

The photo below show the current vineyard (red line) and two additional plots that was part of the vineyard in 1827. It can be seen that the Mairie de Vosne-Romanee … the Mayors Office … was build on the southern part of the Goillotte vineyard, and another part of the original vineyard is now included in the park around the mansion.

The ownership of La Goilotte is not that well documented .. but we know that the Chanut family owned the estate including the vineyard in the last part of the 19th century – see my article about the Chanut estates.

The Chateau La Goillotte was according to Danguy and Aubertin¹ the main building in the Dr Chanut estate. The son of Philibert Eugene Chanut – Jules Edouard Chanut stayed in this mansion until 1907 – this is confirmed by Gert Crum².