Armand Rousseau was born in 1884[1] to a family heavily involved in the wine industry as merchants, coopers and vignerons.
[2] He inherited several vineyard plots and the current domaine building in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin as part of his wedding in 1909.
[3] After rapid expansion in vineyard holdings, with purchases in Charmes-Chambertin, Clos de la Roche and Chambertin in the late 1910s and 1920s,[1] the domaine began to bottle and sell its own wine in the 1930s after advice given by Raymond Baudoin, founder of the La Revue du vin de France.
[1][5] Rousseau was also a pioneer within Burgundy in selling his wine to the United States market after the end of prohibition in the mid to late 1930s.
[5] At the time of Charles taking over the estate, Domaine Rousseau held 6.5 hectares of vineyards.