Hey Everyone,
My GF and I are looking to plan our first trip to France wine country and are considering doing it at the end of the year, when we both have some time off. We’re likely looking to go Dec 23-30 or the following week.
What we are wondering is how much we can do in Champagne and Burgundy at that time. I know its not the optimal time of the year, but its the time that works best for us.
Any and all suggestions are very appreciated!!
Lots of threads about both topics here including 2 champagne topics on the first page right now
It will be cloudy every single day that you are there - and raining/windy at least half the days. It will be almost freezing day and night - perhaps you’ll get some snow. The sun will not rise until 9am, and it will set by 5pm.
But, the French do know how to live in such an inhospitable (for this Californian) environment. Do you like Cassoulet? Boeuf Bourguignon? Choucroute? Onion Soup? Do you like Cafe au lait with a chocolate croissant for breakfast? The museums and cafes and bistros will all be warm and dry. What more could you ask for?
But if all of that does not appeal, there is always the south of France. Or better yet, southern Italy. It would be much warmer there…
I wouldn’t go the week of 23-30 Dec, as things are deader than dead between Christmas and New Year, unless being stuck with millions of tourists in tiny shops is your kind of fun. Most of the wine producers will be on holidays anyway (same as the rest of the country, actually). You could catch a Midnight Mass in a nice church or even cathedral on the day before Christmas if that’s your thing, though.
I feel the week from Wed 30 Dec to Wed 6 Jan would be a better option: most businesses (including wine producers) will open up again on Mon 4 Jan, plus you get to experience New Year’s Eve in Paris (where you can either freeze your ass off on the streets or be gouged for mundane food and bad entertainment in a restaurant 
).