The best friend and I are doing France for our honeymoon and we are starting to plan the trip. We both love wine, so obviously want to hit a couple of the French regions. How similar is it to tasting in Napa/Sonoma or Tuscany/Piedmont? Should we be reaching out to wineries through email, or can you book online? Any recs for a drivers in the Champagne and Burgundy regions would be greatly appreciated.
If any of you have any must visits, please post them ITT as well.
Totally different, in short! Almost everything in Burgundy is by appointment only, and the appointments are hard to come by. You need to plan two months in advance, write an email and cross your fingers. On the other hand, of course, if you do get manage to get an appointment it’s likely to be the proprietor/winemaker who hosts you. In Beaune there is a bit more infrastructure and you could do tastings at some of the houses such as Drouhin, Jadot and Bouchard that would be instructive and easier to arrange, as well as accessible on foot if you’re staying in Beaune. Good luck!
There are several very good threads on various Burgundy visit subjects in the Travel Forum. I’m sure people will answer here, too, but definitely have a look over there as a lot of good information has already been shared.
We and friends have had success hiring guides who have access to Domaines. We used Bill Nanson who was great re access, but is not cheap and its hit or miss re which domaines. There are others. They are not cheap! I’d personally combine an approach of asking Domaines directly, booking the big houses that William mentioned (which you can sometimes do online) and hire a guide for one day. Also the next time I visit Burgundy I will rent e-Bikes to ride around the vineyards (the first time, I thought everyone was on real bikes… silly me).
Another recommendation for a nice smaller winery you can visit. Les échappées | Armand Heitz
Highly recommend staying in Beaune. Lots of great restaurants there with wonderful wine lists like Caves Madeleine and Ma Cuisine. If you stay in Beaune, after eating, you can walk back to your hotel.
A great wine store in Chassagne is the Caveau de Chassagne-Montrachet.
Spend time driving around and looking at the famous vineyards. Don’t over-schedule winery visits.
In Champagne, go to Reims and visit Taittinger and Dom Ruinart.
Hi
I was in Beaune 5 days lat April. There are lots of Hotels in Beaune. I thoroughly enjoyed Abbaye des Mayzieres. It’s a 12th century Abby restored into a small boutique hotel. Right around the corner from the square in front of Notre Dame de Beaune and the Joseph Drouhin tasting room. Easy walk to dozens of restaurants. The only downside if it matters is no elevators…
One small bit of advice if you take the train to Beaune station arrange a pickup at the station ahead of time. we had a heck of a time rounding up a cab and Uber/Lyft are pretty much nonexistent in Beaune
We usually take the train from Paris to Dijon and rent a car there.
Speaking from experience, if you want to book five visits to growers with some fame you need to email at least 25 different ones. CĂ´te de Beaune seems way more welcoming than CĂ´te de Nuits.
If you have particular favorites that you have purchased then reach out to their importer, tell them how much you like their wines, and see if they can help you with an appointment.
We have never visited wine producers in Burgundy, but this is something we have experienced in other parts of France. This opportunity for personal interaction is very special. I think that, in general, the more that you can personalize your appointment request the better your odds.
Enjoy the planning and enjoy your trip.
I have good relationships with some importers and still have had less luck with that than blindly emailing producers. I think these days they do enough sponsored events that they kind of run their course of Goodwill and have little left to spread to customers, even good ones.
If you live near NYC or SF, La Paulee is upcoming in a few weeks and if you are able to attend you’ll meet many Burgundy producers, winemakers and owners plus others in the business. This would be a very valuable tool to accomplish some private visits in Burgundy and other French wine regions.
Great advice.
First time I went to the Paulée grand tasting in 2007, I met Philippe Prost from Bouchard. Told him we were visiting Burgundy in May. He gave me his card and when we were in Burgundy he gave us a private tour including multiple barrel samples at their then new winery. Great visit.
I have also made a couple of other contacts there that got me into impossible to get into wineries.
For appointments that are easy to get, I would also recommend Armand Heitz, Joseph Drouhin and JCB. Rue des Vignerons also has many visits you can self-book. (admittedly, mostly not great) That should at least give you a few guaranteed visits and if you can get something more interesting, even better.
In Nuits-Saints-Georges Henri Gouges has a tasting room that opened approximately one year ago. You probably still need an appointment in advance but I would imagine they are more accessible than most.
Hello all… First time posting… I spent 3 years in Paris and went to Burgundy a few times. I created this Burgundy itinerary that may help. Link: https://www.winerelease.com/Other/WineReleaseRecommends-AWeekinBurgundy.pdf