My wife and I just got back from 5 days of biking in Burgundy (plus a bit more time in Beaune/Dijon and Paris at the beginning and end). Not a typical Berserker trip since we didn’t focus so much on the food and wine (though we still did quite well), but will give the notes in case anyone is planning something similar. Sorry, no serious wine notes!
I planned the whole itinerary based on a self guided trip I saw - we decided to just do it ourselves to save some $$$ and have more flexibility with the routes/hotels/meals, etc. It worked out well all around, though I’d do a few things differently if I were to do it again. The combination of the heat wave (basically upper 90’s every day but one) and staying in small towns like Nolay and Chateauneuf-en-Auxois (where the small hotels didn’t have air conditioning) was unfortunate, but the heat was not as bad as we feared and we tried to finish our biking by 3pm each day. We had also decided to go on the budget side of things for this trip, since it was planned fairly last minute (and followed a bigger trip to Tanzania we did earlier this summer).
Logistics - we rented bikes from Bourgognes Randonnees in Beaune and had them for five days. One loop day in Beaune, then on through the Cote de Beaune to Santenay and Nolay, then to Chateauneuf, then to Dijon, then back to Beaune through the Cote de Nuits. We brought our own helmets, though they rent those, too. I did all the research on routes, but really didn’t have a great feel for how the rides would turn out - they were all great - and all roughly 30-50km per day, which is quite easy for someone in decent shape (except for one notable hill - up to Chateauneuf - which we had to walk half way in 95 degree blaring sun). I used a combination of Google Maps and http://www.cycleroute.org to plan the rides, downloaded maps onto Google Maps for offline use, printed out each one, then kinda found our way or lost our way here and there without any major fails.
So… we spent one night in Paris on the way, had a great meal at newcomer Heimat, which I highly recommend for those interested in French natural wines. Pierre Jancou there is natural wine zealot and a great host - we had a couple nice glasses of sparkling (one champagne, one cremant, forgot to take notes!), then an awesome 2009 la Grande Colline Saint Peray (declassified) from winemaker Hirotake Ooka. Funky cider-y stuff. Stellar ethereal Greek dessert wine too - Sclavus muscat de cephalonie - gotta try to track some of that down. And great food too, 50euro for three courses, creative and fresh in a casual cellar-y environment. Also, happened upon Maison du Whiskey which has an astoundingly good whisky selection (Scotch and Japanese in particular) - whisky fans should seek it out. We snacked at L’as du Falafel (not quite as good as it used to be, though maybe I’ve just had other good falafel lately), Maison de la Truffe (a foie gras and truffle baguette that was a nice indulgence but not as great as it could have been with better quality all around), and Berthillon.
Took the train to Dijon then on to Beaune, and went straight to the tour at Joseph Drouhin, which was led by a very knowledgable (and excellent English-speaking) young lady and included some nice wines in the tasting - a '96 Clos des Mouches rouges among them, '08 Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Damodes, and I lost my notes on the whites! The cellars do make for an interesting visit. For dinner, we reserved at Ma Cuisine and had a great meal - the best (house cured) sardines I have ever had (like great sashimi quality basically). It was hot - so we started with a Cremant again then moved on to a recommended '11 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chassagne, Les Ancegnieres, that was in great shape and nicely affordable, and worked well with the food and the heat.
We hit La Dilettante for a couple of dessert wines (incl Les Enfants Sauvages muscat de rivesaltes) and decided then and there to make that our destination the following evening - and it was a great choice both nights. Fun, casual wine bar with a tiny but very nice menu, where Lolo and crew are very engaging. The second night we did a great Cidrerie du Vulcain poire (yes, they have a small but very nice beer and cider selection, too). The weather had us in no mood for red.
Day 1: Our first biking day was a loop day from Beaune, and we hit Savigny, Pernand-V, and Aloxe-Corton. Small roads the entire trip, including some paths through the vineyards, which made for nice riding. Going into Pernand-V was the only really major hill - and it was quite short. Cute towns all, no appointments (had been turned down by a couple due to lack of wine in the past couple years), but we stopped in at Michel Voarick and had a quick and nice little tasting incl some of their grand cru. We did 30km+ in 5 hours or so including a picnic next to the lovely grounds of Chandon de Briailles (provisions from the Saturday Beaune market, which underwhelmed us with the selection this time vs. previous visits).
Day 2: Straight out of Beaune towards Pommard, joining the very well marked veloroute La Voie des Vignes which hits all the cute little towns down to Santenay. Great biking route - they are roads, but low traffic, right through the vineyards, slightly better biking experience than the prior day due to the well marked trail. It was Sunday, and none of the winemakers I really wanted to hit were available, so no appointments, and ended up with no visits, either. Excellent little unplanned lunch at Le Terroir in Santenay (again, went with cremant - sorry, guys, it was hot!). In Santenay, you join the veloroute to Nolay, which is a great little paved trail on a light incline (former rail track). Another nice change of pace as far as biking experience - pure wooded rural route leaving the vineyards immediately after Santenay. Nolay is a cute but sleepy little town with not much to offer - the two restaurants that sounded interesting were both closed that night (Midupi and Le Menu), so we ended up at a little place on the main square that was passable and just did a half bottle of a decent Marsannay. No air conditioning in our very basic room at Le Hotel des Halles. Grrrr. The weekly market the next morning was… very quickly forgotten, nothing interesting at all.
Day 3: Out of Nolay, this route is primarily on rural roads with minimal traffic, and the first 10km or so have some pretty good hills (then an excellent and beautiful downhill into Lusigny-sur-Ouche). Nice pit stop at the château de Corabœuf to wander the grounds. Once in Lusigny, you hit a few cute little river-side towns then join the bike route along the Canal de Bourgogne in Pont d’Ouche. We had stopped in Bligny to ask about restaurants, and luckily the gentleman there suggested we go the Le Bistro du Port, on the canal in Pont d’Ouche. Apparently this place changed hands last year, and it is awesome - blowing away expectations. Nice little wine list, nice fromages and charcuterie, excellent jambon persille, very clear commitment to local producers all around, seating outside overlooking a little marina on the canal. Just ordered by the glass, but they had some good choices (nothing that will blow you away, but well chosen). Highly recommended if you’re in the neighborhood (they do take reservations). From there, we took the beautiful canal veloroute (the only people we saw the whole way were canal lock workers zooming back and forth on their motorbikes to the various locks to let boats through). We went past Chateauneuf to Vandenesses (cute little canal town), then back to the grueling climb up to Chateauneuf. It was hot, we were tired, we had to walk up the steep hill. Oh well. Like Nolay, Chateauneuf is tiny, but at least has a few interesting shops and beautiful views. We stayed at the quaint chez Bagatelle, again no air conditioning, but a lovely breakfast the next morning and charming Mme. Bagatelle. Dinner at Loree du Bois was fine, nothing to get excited about.
Day 4: Canal day. After the swift and all too brief downhill from Chateauneuf to the canal, it’s along the canal all the way in to Dijon - roughly 50km. Great biking, peaceful, lovely. We hopped off in La Bussieres to check out the Abbaye de la Bussieres - a Relais et Chateau that has taken over a gorgeous old church/abbey. Wow, the grounds are beautiful, and the old architecture stunning. I’d seriously consider staying here a couple nights if we make it back for another bike trip - just a minute off the canal. On to Dijon - we wanted to wrap our ride since this was supposed to be a super hot day, and we arrived right as the market in les Halles was wrapping up - glad we got there to experience at least a part of it. Excellent market (sorry, Beaune, this kicks your butt). I frankly hadn’t researched Dijon much, but it really blew away any expectations we had - the architecture, the old streets, the bustling cafes and bars, les Halles, etc. We had plenty of time that afternoon so did the “owl” walking tour (the city has instilled bronze plaques and arrows all around the city marking key sights). Dinner at DZ’envies for something different - quite modern/progressive (which is rare among affordable places in Burgundy, at least according to our experience). While not mind blowing, it was certainly interesting - and their refined version of oeufs en meurette is hard to beat. Decent wine list, a bit overpriced, we did a solid '10 Trapet Marsannay (still drinking based on the heat) after an aperitif.
Day 5: Back to Beaune. Getting out of Dijon was surprisingly easy, then surprisingly boring until you hit Marsannay and the hills start to rise up and you enter the Cote de Nuits. We had a 10:30 appointment at Dom. de Lambrays, so timed our ride to hit that. While this route is not marked as it is south of Beaune, the roads are still small and little trafficked, and you can wind your way through the vineyards and quaint towns fairly easily (at least until Nuits St Georges where things start to get a little messy onwards to Beaune). To say that Lambrays was a highlight would be an understatement - we were met by longtime winemaker Thierry Brouin, who was as gracious as can be. He drove us the short ride up the hill to the top of the clos des Lambrays, with its lovely view over the town and the vineyards, then pointed out the newer vines vs the older ones, the way the soil in the upper vineyards above the grand cru plots are a much lighter color, etc. He answered all our questions graciously - about the weather, the expected harvest, prior vintages, LVMH, etc… - despite the fact that I’m sure he gets the same questions over and over again from visitors. We then drove back down to the cellars to taste from the barrel. First the '14 MSD (he blended from several barrels to get the right mix of old and new), then the '14 Clos de Lambrays (also pulled from several barrels, old and new), then the '14 Clos du Cailleret (I think, from a bottle - dang I should have taken better notes), then the '12 and '10 Clos de Lambrays as well from small unlabeled bottles. The blanc was flat out awesome, and the '10 Clos de Lambrays stood out among the others - superbly balanced between power and finesse, far too drinkable for such a complex wine. Thierry said he was especially fond of the '10, and between the '12 and '13 seemed to think that the '13 would do better in the long run (but not the short run). Just an outstanding visit, and I’m now an even bigger fan of Lambrays (and wish I had more in my cellar - may have to do something about that - I was shocked that only 100-150 cases of Clos de Lambrays are sent to the US each year).
From there, it was on through the cote down to lunch in NSG - La Cabotte was our choice but was fully booked, so we settled for a place around the corner that I would not recommend (it was fine - but service was lacking, and we found a family of worms in our Epoisses!). From NSG, I used Google Maps to wind our way back to Beaune, avoiding the main road. We happened upon an incredible sunflower field as far as the eye could see. Dropped our bikes back off, and hopped on the next 18 minute train to Dijon (wow, that’s fast, made all our biking seem like a lot of work for a short distance!).
Back in Dijon, we decided to hit both Chez Bruno and Dr. Wine, which seem to be the top two wine bars in town. Both fun and good places, with nice lists, but completely different. Bruno is old school French, a crazy list and menu written on chalkboards, somewhat baffling but charming service. We ordered several wines by the glass, veering out of Burgundy for an '06 Rolet Arbois vin jaune (wow). I wish they had a bigger by the glass list, or I had a team of Berserkers to take down a few bottles, but what they had by the glass was quite nice. We ordered the excellent tartine Espanole (with garlic, tomato, ham), and were also given (on the house) some of the equally excellent housemade boudin “Basque,” duck rillettes, some saucisson sec, and walnuts to go w the vin jaune. Awesome, love it. As for Dr. Wine, it’s more contemporary, more formal. A guitarist was playing on the back patio and we ordered a few dishes at the bar, going with wines by the glass again (similarly, I wish they had more to offer by the glass - bottles do seem to be the way to go). Good tapas-y food if not great - foie gras, goat cheese on toast with honey, etc.
And the next morning it was back to Paris and CDG! Wow. The biking on this trip was really fabulous - varied terrains, beautiful views, quaint towns, reasonable distances and relatively flat. While we didn’t overdo it on the wine, the experiences we did have (Drouhin and Lambrays) were great, and even at the lower end, most of the restaurant wine lists delivered well. Happy to share more detail if anyone else is planning a similar trip. Photos at https://flic.kr/s/aHskfj8bA7
