Burgundy, a food and wine lover’s paradise. We stayed in the town of Beaune to explore the Côte d’Or. Sitting at the northern end of the Côte de Beaune it gave easily drivable access to the Côte de Nuits as well. Beaune is small enough to explore thoroughly in a week, but big enough to offer many options for eating and drinking. It’s a lovely town with wine tourism being the obvious attraction to its visitors. We discovered many great restaurants and the opportunity to drink incredible wine was endless. Your vinous desires are only limited by your budget. See our recommendations on restaurants in Beaune here.
Working with wine, it can be really hard sometimes to get your head around the appellation system in Burgundy. Sure, on the surface it seems pretty straight forward, but the more you learn, the more you realise how convoluted the system can be.
One of the best ways to understand the world of Burgundy is to get amongst the vines with a map, or app in hand. With Beaune as a base you can easily walk (or, ahem, run…) to Pommard in one direction or Savigny-lès-Beaune in the other. Alternatively, drive to another town, like Gevrey-Chambertin and walk from there. Wandering through the vineyards you can see the different soil types, the different aspects and point out the different climats and lieux-dits (super wine geek lingo).
Before leaving Australia, Nicholas was told about this fantastic app called ClimaVinea. It uses your GPS to pinpoint where you are in Burgundy, to the point of which climat (or vineyard) you are in. It also provides additional information on each plot including the grapes grown, the types of soil, and the producers who make wine from these vines.
Another option for getting amongst the vineyards is to hire a bike for the day. We hired bikes from Bourgogne Randonnées on Avenue du 8 Septembre for 19€ each. From Beaune, there is a clearly marked bike path through Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet and finally down to Santenay. Stop at one of the towns on the way and pick up supplies for a picnic to eat at one of the little picnic tables amongst the vines.
On a Saturday morning head to the Beaune market. The old market hall is filled with stands selling cured meats, cheese and fresh produce. These spill out onto the surrounding streets with stalls offering all kinds of things from clothes, to knives, homewares or antiques. There was even a stall selling black summer truffles. At under 10€ for your own little truffle it was too good an opportunity to pass up. We ate ours shaved over scrambled eggs the next morning.
Nikkiwhoop 
Wooohooooooooooooooooo!
Disa Dimitrakakis
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