What does clos du bois mean?

Answer 1

Clos du Bois is a name referring to a geographical site, usually a domain or a hostel, what explains its use in wine denominations. It doesn't have a particular signification, except that "clos" means "closed", "du" means "of" or "from" and "bois" means "wood" or "forrest".

It does mean a wooded enclosure literally, but Clos du bois is a winery in Alsace, France and Sonoma Valley, CA so in this case it is referring to the landscape of the winery.

In terms of wine making, which is probably where you will see the term most often, especially the word, CLOS, it has come to mean , an enclosed vineyard, or more precisely, wine which comes only from grapes within this winery or vineyard. Some examples would be the above mentioned, Clos du Bois. Others would be Clos Du Val, Clos de Vougeot, Clos de la Roche, etc., and in the case of Clos du Bois, the California vineyard is in a small valley surrounded by forrests.