Saint-Bris AOC - History

History

Until the late 19th century, there were large vineyards in the Yonne department, covering 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) and with nearby Paris as their main market, linked to it by waterways. One of the grape varieties grown in the Saint-Bris area were Roublot, which is now all but extinct. In those days, before the creation of the more strict appellation rules we know today, wines from the Saint-Bris area could be called Chablis. The combination of competition from the Le Midi - the south of France - after the introduction of railroads in the 19th century, and the Great French Wine Blight, i.e., the phylloxera epidemic, in the late 19th and early 20th century knocked out almost the entire Yonne wine business, and most vineyards were abandoned.

It seems that Sauvignon grapes were introduced to the Saint-Bris area sometime after the local wine industry had more or less collapsed, perhaps due to the variety's success on the upper Loire river, which is not that far away, and because Roublot had shown itself susceptible to disease and therefore was less suitable for replanting. In 1974, the Sauvignon-based white wines of Saint-Bris were considered good enough to be awarded VDQS status under the name of Sauvignon de Saint-Bris. In January 2003 they were elevated to full AOC status under the present name of Saint-Bris, and wines starting with the 2001 vintage were allowed to use the AOC name. The VDQS designation was repealed at the same time.