Tâche-Romanée: A Wine That Should Not Exist, and the Forgotten Maison Chevillot

Burgundy is a lot about history old producers and old wines … it sets the scene for the wines we drink today and the Burgundy we love.

I have therefore decided to get the help from a good friend, who has special competences regarding old wines – Pearl Liu

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Tâche-Romanée: A Wine That Should Not Exist, and the Forgotten Maison Chevillot

Tâche-Romanée is not, and never has been, an AOC, yet these two bottles of Tâche-Romanée 1923 and 1928 are real wines that truly exist. Who made this wine? Are these wines actually La Tâche? Or La Romanée?

Very little information can be found about Maison Chevillot, and apparently, it no longer exists.  However, we may find some answers by following a third bottle:  Musigny 1947. Written on the label of this bottle is: S.A Grands Vins Chevillot & Hôtel de la Poste Beaune.

Hôtel de la Poste in Beaune remains in operation today by its new owner. According to the Beaune Tourisme website, the building was built in the 19th century, though some sources say it dates back to the 17th century (Info Beaune website). It remains one of the landmarks of Beaune today. The previous owners of this hotel were the Chevillot family. Therefore, it is likely that Maison Chevillot (Beaune) and the owner of Hôtel de la Poste were the same family. Finding out the history of this hotel helps us to find the history of the producer of these two Tâche-Romanée .

Interestingly, a memoir by Mr. Gustave Rolle was published by arcinfo.ch in 2009. Mr. Rolle, 92-year-old Swiss veteran of the Second World War, recalled his life during the war. He had been called into service in 1939 and in 1940 in France. After leaving the army, he found a job in Beaune in the cellar of Hôtel de la Poste, run by the Chevillot family.

“I then joined the Maison Chevillot, which managed the Hôtel de la Poste, a five-star hotel in Beaune. As an accountant, I was in charge of the wines. Only grands crus: Romanées, Chambertins…”

(“Je suis alors entré à la maison Chevillot qui gérait l’Hôtel de la Poste, un cinq-étoiles de Beaune. Comme comptable, je m’occupais des vins. Que des grands crus: des romanées, des chambertins.”)

[ I think he meant there were many “big wines”, in realty there must be other “crus”]

He mentioned that his employer at the time was Victor Chevillot.

Victor Chevillot may have come from Switzerland, since his son Charles Chevillot was born there. Victor Chevillot probably arrived in Burgundy around 1900, he bought Hôtel da la Poste in 1904 (according to Beaune Municipales Achives).  Then he created his business in Beaune : the hotel and the restaurants, as well as a winery: bottled many grand crus of Burgundy, such as Musigny, Chambertin, Romanée, Tâche-Romanée…

So, why did Maison Chevillot produce a wine “ Tâche-Romanée” in the 20’s?

Like many major négocients of the time, they could buy grapes or wine from different domaines , vineyard owners, who did not bottle their own wines, but sold grapes or wine to large merchants. Therefore, Chevillot produced many great wines such as Tâche-Romanée, Musigny, Chambertin which were sold to their hotel and restaurant guests or outside market.

How did this Tâche-Romanée come to exist?

Before 1933, what is now La Tâche consisted of two different vineyards. One was the 1.4-hectare La Tâche Joly de Bévy, owned by Liger-Belair. The other was the 4.63-hectare of Les Gaudichots, owned by several proprietors including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

According to Jean-François Bazin, from the mid-19th century, some merchants sold wines not originating from La Tâche Joly de Bévy, but from the neighboring parcel Les Gaudichots, under the name La Tâche or Tâche-Romanée. For example, the Dijon merchant Regnier, Moser et Collette sold their Gaudichots as Tâche-Romanée.

The use of the name Tâche-Romanée was protested by Liger-Belair. In 1919, de Gresigny, successor to Regnier, Moser et Collette, ceased using the name Tâche-Romanée. However, other merchants continued to use it. Bazin wrote that Maison Colombet bottled Les Gaudichots purchased from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti under the name Tâche-Romanée.

Therefore, the evidence points to Chevillot’s Tâche-Romanée having come from Les Gaudichots. And  Maison Chevillot wasn’t the only producer of Tâche-Romanée. They used this name instead of Les Gaudichots for a better marketing image or to sell at a higher price.

From whom did they purchase the grapes for this wine?

At the time, Les Gaudichots had several owners, the largest being Maison Duvault-Blochet (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti), but because of the great age of these bottles, we cannot determine the exact source. We can be certain that it did not come from Liger-Belair.

After Domaine de la Romanée-Conti bought Liger-Belair’s La Tâche Joly de Bévy in 1933, and combined it with their Gaudichots, to create DRC’s La Tâche monopole, the name Tâche-Romanée disappeared from history.

When Maison Chevillot Beaune stopped their wine business is unknown.

Victor’s son, Charles Victor Chevillot (1901–1995), continued the family business. Then the business passed down to the third generation. One of Victor Chevillot’s grandson Charles Chevillot (also named Charles) went to the United States and ran several French restaurants there. He was also a well-known chef.  There were several articles about him and his restaurants can be found on Archives of New York Times newspaper. The New York Times had an article in 1984: “NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; Long-Lost Friends”,  about him and his hometown Burgundy friend Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, whom he reunited with in his New York restaurant La Petite Ferme.

“Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, the opera director, and Charles Chevillot, the restaurateur, had not seen each other in 40 years. The two had been childhood friends in Beaune, France, where Mr. Ponnelle’s father was a vintner and Mr.Chevillot’s was a hotelier.”

It is not clear when and why he moved to the United States after the war. But his brother, Marc Chevillot, stayed in Beaune and took over the hotel and restaurant business.

Aside from running hotel and restaurants, the Chevillots continued bottling wines at least up to the 80s, these wines were sold in their restaurants both in the US and in Beaune, France.

Thanks to these old bottles, a forgotten chapter of Burgundy can still be rediscovered.

(The three bottles shown in the images all come from Victor Hsu’s collection. I will continue to write the stories of the wines from his great collection.)