In the spring of each year on a Saturday morning two weeks before Easter the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin organises at the Château du Clos de Vougeot its Tastevinage session, thus confirming the role has assumed ever since it was founded:  maintaining the quality of the great Burgundy wines.

What is the Tastevinage?
    It is an examination which grants those bottles of Burgundy that conform to the characteristics of their vintage and their year, the right to bear the official stamp of the Confrérie.  This brings to the attention of wine fanciers those bottles which, by their honesty, their character, and their unquestionable quality, particularly deserve their distinction.

How did the Tastevinage come into existance?
    Five years after World War II, in 1950, the founders and animators of the Confrérie quickly concluded that their success would be incomplete if those Burgundy wines whose sales they promoted were not of the best quality.
    The best way would be to award under certain conditions a seal which would guarantee the sincerity of the enterprise.  The Tastevinage was born: the Tastevin seal would be for Burgundy wines what the engraver's hall-mark is to jewelers.

What happens at the Tastevinage?
    Each succeeding springtime the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin brings together at the Château du Clos de Vougeot a jury comprised of 200 experienced tasters representing all facets of the wine trade and known for their discriminating taste buds: reputed growers, well-known shippers, brokers, oenologists, government officials connected with the French food and drug administration, restaurant owners and chefs, enlightened wine lovers,.....and reporters acting as informants.
The members of the Grand Conseil of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin organise this official tasting but do not participate as judges.  They remain neutral and limit themselves to recording the decisions of the jury.

Very strict regulations
    All wines presented for the tasting must have been bottled for no less than six months. The lots to be examined must be presented as samples in bottles labeled and capped with the name of the submitter.
    Previous to the tasting each sample has been analyzed by an official laboratory recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture, In addition to the bottles used for analysis and for tasting, other bottles are kept in a special cellar for future verification should a buyer be at variance. This is a further guarantee that the wine which he has acquired is the wine which was selected, except of course for the conditions of preservation. The records of analysis for each lot of wine have the same value as an identity picture on a passport.
    The jury only has to answer the following question : do the appellation and the year on the bottle correspond to what should be expected of them? , In short, is this a bottle you would be proud to have in your cellar and happy to offer your guests as being typical of the best that this vintage has to offer?
    For two hours running five to seven jurors at each table are responsible for passing judgment on fifteen bottles presented anonymously, that is. without the name of either grower or shipper Only the appellation and the year are given
    The samples are presented in a proposed order of tasting going progressively from the lightest to the most powerful, and from the youngest to the oldest.The jurors are free to change the order Their verdict is without appeal.
    It may happen that a good wine is not selected but a poor wine or a wine that is not up to the standards of the Tastevinage has never been accepted.
    Moreover, the percentage of the happy few is a witness to the severity of the exam: during the last thirty years it has fluctuated between 60 and 65%, which represents between 35 and 40% of refusals.
    The results of the Tasteninage are registered in the "Armorial des Grands Crus de Bourgogne tastevinés" which is distributed free of charge by the Confrérie to all its members.
    Thhe double goal of the Tastevinage is thus achieved: to reward growers and shippers for having produced particularly outstanding wines by giving the consumer an additional guarantee, and to create a link between grower and consumer to the greatest satisfaction of each one.
    The Confrérie, it is well to add, has always remained outside any commercial transactions concerning wines that have been "tastevinés".   Each lot remains the exclusive property of the grower or shipper who produced it.   As a result they are free to set their prices and sell them to their regular costomers or to any wine fancier requesting them.

Now that this hall-mark is known to all lovers of Burgundy wines both in France and worldwide, a bottle bearing this special numbered label with the seal of the Tastevin is treated with special respect.
    So it is only normal that this distinction be more and more in demand each year by both growers and shippers.  They realize that only by a constant search for quality can the reputation of a vinyard, particularly Burgandy, be maintained.   The "Armorial des Grands Crus de Bourgogne tastevinés" listing the wines selected and giving the names and addresses of the producers may be obtained free of charge by writing to:

Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin,
B.P. 12,
21701 Nuits-St-Georges Cedex,
France