Chasselas de Thomery, whose production peaked at the beginning of the 20th century, was renowned and appreciated between the wars, when it was considered a luxury grape to be enjoyed throughout the winter and spring.

[1] The sandy-clay soil of alluvial origin on the By hillside, although facing east and south-east, was nevertheless chosen by François Charmeux around 1730 as the site for the first chasselas vines[nb 1] grown on the "treilles du Roi" in Fontainebleau.

Around 1880, Étienne Salomon successfully experimented with a process for preserving grapes in cold rooms at 0–2 °C (foreshadowing refrigerators), as well as with forcing in greenhouses, but these were not followed by widespread application.

[11] At the time, grapes were transported to Paris mainly by river from the small port of Thomery by the village's own inhabitants in flat-bottomed boats, called margotats, to the capital's fruit market.

[12] In 1850, Thomery, like the rest of northern France, was hit by powdery mildew, which almost led to the collapse of greenhouse and trellised vineyards in the Île-de-France region.

For decades in the 19th century, Chasselas de Thomery Doré was exported throughout France as a luxury product, purchased by bourgeois families in Paris, notably at Fauchon, and throughout Europe as far afield as the Russian court.

[20] The wood of Vitis vinifera variety Chasselas de Thomery is reddish, the vine shoots are thin, the average internode length is about eight centimeters, the merithalles[nb 2] are close together, and the buds are relatively large.

[1] The shortcomings of this mediocre type of soil,[9] which is generally recognized as highly unsuitable for vine-growing,[10] have however been counterbalanced by improved cultivation methods, and, relatively rarely for vines, by the triennial use of large quantities of natural fertilizers such as horse and cow manure (mixed in equal proportions) and spread in wide trenches opened at the start of winter for about a meter at the foot of the vines.

The special climatic features of Thomery are due to its location, entirely in a meander of the Seine, and to its position at the eastern edge of the Fontainebleau forest, which shelters it from storms.

[1] The morning fog generated by the Seine at the end of September and the beginning of October also favors the final ripening phase of the grapes and their golden color.

The main distinctive feature of Chasselas cultivation in Thomery, a relatively northerly region for vines, is the use of high espalier walls built from hard stone quarried nearby, held together with earth mortar, and plastered with sand and lime.

[8] They are spaced at an average of 9 to 10 meters apart, and are arranged along the slope so as to give the vines the maximum benefit from the sunshine and heat given off by the stone in the evening and at night, and to protect them from the wind.

[5] At the top of the roof-tile ridge, which protrudes 25 cm, is a small glass canopy which, through a greenhouse effect, increases the amount of sunshine and protects the grapes from the rain.

[27] Since the beginning of the nineteenth century,[28] trellises at Thomery have been trained using five techniques, all designed to ensure rapid ripening of the wood and the most even possible distribution of sap throughout the plant:[7] Historically, the Rose Charmeux horizontal cordon pruning technique established in 1828 was the most widely used, but it was difficult to implement and had the disadvantage of favoring the upper cordon over the lower when the vines were older.

The vine is pinched at the end of unnecessary shoots to prevent their growth, then trellised ten days later, generally around 25 May, to secure it to the wall on the current wires.

From October onwards, these fruit trees were installed in the attics or cellars of houses, to protect the grapes from the cold, draughts, and light, in optimal temperature conditions, by keeping them at around 10 °C.

In an 1860 issue of the Revue des deux Mondes, Mr. Payen reported having seen bunches of Thomery Chasselas harvested in September 1859 at the exhibition of the Société centrale d'horticulture held at the Palais de l'Industrie in May 1860, which were "perfectly preserved using this method by Messrs Rose and Constant Charmeux".

[11] Some of the grapes that inevitably rotted during the storage period had to be removed by hand on a regular basis to avoid spoiling the whole bunch, and charcoal was placed in the bottle to prevent the water from stagnating.

In the past, bunches were harvested as late as possible (between 15 October and 15 November) and simply placed either in wicker baskets filled with large quantities of fern leaves or hung from circular hangers by special small iron hooks and stored in well-ventilated fruit boxes.

[7][10] In the first half of the nineteenth century, Lelieur advocated the use of Thomery's viticultural techniques, which were better for quality grapes than those of Montreuil-sous-bois, where the peach wall (mur à pêches) were also used for this purpose.

[5][12] In the first half of the 19th century, Belgian horticulturist Édouard Parthon de Von also adopted Thomery's techniques for his vineyards in Antwerp, Belgium.

[41] In 1862, the Scottish-born American academic John Phin (1832–1913) published an extremely detailed work entitled Open Air Grape Culture, partly devoted to the dissemination of Thomery viticultural methods, using the material previously published by Lelieur, with additional details obtained from Alphonse Du Breuil, founder of the École municipale et départementale d'arboriculture de la ville de Paris and future École du Breuil.