Auxerre, once an important city in the Yonne département of north east France. Today chablis is the Yonne’s most famous and substantial wine appellation, but in the time of charlemagne, the region centred on Auxerre 20 km/12 miles west had many more vineyards, being a larger centre of population and being conveniently situated on a river which leads directly into the Seine and thence to the paris basin. It is perhaps not surprising, given its historic importance, that so many vine varieties have the name or synonym auxerrois, meaning ‘of Auxerre’.
