Though Vougeot is best known for the highly reputed Clos de Vougeot, covering almost 51 hectares, the Premier Cru and Village appellations in the remaining 16.5 hectares should not be forgotten. Connoisseurs yearn for this wine, sitting at the night hand of its lord, and sharing most of the qualities of the Grand Cru.For the first 680 years of this vineyards history, it was tended by the monks of Cteaux, who planted the Clos de Vougeot and the majority of the neighbouring plots at the start of the 12th century. The Clos du Prieur, like the others, was sold off at the end of the 18th century under the French Revolution.The Clos du Prieur (priory enclosure) belonged to the Benedictine Priory of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prs in Paris, who owned land in the neighbouring parish of Gilly from the 11th century. As the Abbey of Cteaux grew, conflicts with Saint-Germain-des-Prs were inevitable. In 1499 Jean de Cirey, Abbot of Cteaux, after selling off part of the Abbeys crockery, finally succeeded in paying off the debt to the Parisian Abbey, which was forced to accept some land near Melun in exchange for abandoning its rights at Gilly and Vougeot.
