The commune is located 18 km south of Dijon in the Côte de Nuits area in the French region of Burgundy was already mentioned under the name "Vaoa" at the beginning of the 7th century. From the 9th century, it belonged to the Prieuré Saint-Vivant monastery of the Roman Catholic order of Benedictines. In 1232, vineyards were donated to the monks. In 1651, the vineyard "Le Cloux" was renamed "La Romanée" because Roman ruins had been discovered nearby. This small site of less than one hectare then developed into one of the most famous Burgundian vineyards. The name of the best site was added to the commune name in 1866, as in many Burgundian communes.
The vineyards cover 156 hectares of vines. The soil consists of a special mixture of white oolite (small mineral spheres cemented by a chalky, clayey binder), marly limestone and brown-coloured clayey-limestone layers. The six Grands Crus have cult status and are called La Grande Rue (1.4 ha), La Tâche (6 ha), Richebourg (8 ha), La Romanée (0.84 ha), Romanée-Conti (1.8 ha) and Romanée-Saint-Vivant (10 ha). La Tâche and Romanée-Conti are entirely owned by the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. The red wines are mainly made from Pinot Noir with, where appropriate, proportions of Pinot Liébault and Pinot Gris and are among the absolute top wines in Burgundy.
The 14 Premier Cru sites cover a total of 57 hectares of vines. These are (in bold the best quality) Au Dessus des Malconsorts (1.1 ha), Aux Brûlées (4.5 ha), Aux Malconsorts (5.9 ha), Aux Reignots (1.6 ha), Clos des Réas (2.1 ha), Cros Parantoux (1 ha), En Orveaux (1.8 ha), La Croix Rameau (0.6 ha), Les Beaux Monts od. Beaumonts (11.4 ha), Les Chaumes (6.5 ha), Les Gaudichots (0.8 ha), Les Petits Mon ts (3.7 ha), Les Rouges du Dessus (2.6 ha) and Les Suchots (12 ha).
The other wines from the remaining sites are marketed under the Village appellation Vosne-Romanée. As a special feature, the Village wines from the neighbouring commune of Flagey-Echézeaux (which is not classified as an AOC) are allowed to use the AOC designation Vosne. The best-known producers include Domaine Robert Arnoux, Bichot (Domaine du Clos Frantin), Sylvain Cathiard, Domaine Jean Grivot, Jayer, Domaine Michel Gros, Engel, Alain Hudelot-Noellat, Domaine Leroy, Domaine Méo-Camuzet, Mongeard-Mugneret, Domaine Armelle et Bernard Rion and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.
Vosne-Romanée: by Olivier Vanpé, CC BY-SA 2.5, Link
Church: by Christianlaforet - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Romanée-Conti and Richebourg: by Ohndo - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
