Why Do Two Villages Share the Name of a Vineyard Called Bald Mountain? — Montrachet

Head south past the Côte de Nuits, and the Côte de Beaune begins. From here, the villages lining the map turn from red wine to white. Near this entrance stands a hill, home to a vineyard named Montrachet. This name is said to mean “bald mountain” — a mountain bare of trees. Two neighboring villages, Puligny and Chassagne, both carry this name as their own village name today. Why did two villages come to share the name of a single vineyard? Trace it back, and it leads to a quiet administrative line that splits one vineyard in two.

A Hill Called Bald Mountain

Trace the name “Montrachet” back, and it is said to lead to “râche,” an old French word for a scalp condition that causes hair loss. From this, “Mont Rachaz” is said to have come to mean “bald mountain” — a mountain bare of trees. Tradition also holds that this rocky, thin-soiled hill once supported little more than thorny scrub and boxwood. While most of the slopes of the Côte de Beaune are covered in green vines, this one corner, it is said, took its name from a very different kind of landscape.

One Vineyard Straddling a Boundary

An administrative line divides this hillside vineyard in two. South of the line lies the territory of Chassagne; north of it, the territory of Puligny. Yet the vineyard itself remains a single, continuous plot of about 8 hectares — split almost evenly, with roughly 4 hectares on the Chassagne side and roughly 4 hectares on the Puligny side. One vineyard exists, administratively, across two villages at once.

1879: Two Villages Take the Name at the Same Time

The practice of a village adding a vineyard’s name to its own had already appeared elsewhere in the Côte d’Or, beginning with the village of Gevrey. These two villages joined that same movement. By decree of November 27, 1879, the village of Puligny became “Puligny-Montrachet,” and the village then known as “Chassagne-le-Haut” became “Chassagne-Montrachet” — both renamed on the same date, by the same decree. Elsewhere, a single village had taken on the name of a single vineyard. What these two villages did took a different shape: two villages facing each other across a boundary line took in the name of one shared vineyard, at the same time, as their own.

Montrachet Today

Puligny and Chassagne have remained neighbors ever since, each keeping its own village name. The vineyard spanning both villages was recognized as Grand Cru AOC on July 31, 1937. Nearly 150 years after the boundary line first split this hillside in two, two villages still stand side by side, administratively, beneath a single name: Montrachet.

Three Facts Worth Knowing

• The name “Montrachet” is said to mean “bald mountain” — a mountain bare of trees. Tradition holds that this rocky, thin-soiled hill once supported little more than thorny scrub and boxwood.
• On November 27, 1879, the neighboring villages of Puligny and Chassagne each added “Montrachet” to their own village name, by the same decree. Two villages facing each other across a boundary line took in the name of one shared vineyard at the same time.
• The vineyard spanning both villages was recognized as Grand Cru AOC on July 31, 1937. The roughly 8-hectare vineyard remains split almost evenly between the Puligny and Chassagne sides, continuing today as a single vineyard.

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