Burgundy and Champagne: the classics, with grower eyes

Champagne and Burgundy are the two most written-about wine regions in France, and I still take small groups there because most visitors only see the front of house. This week goes round the back: two days on the Côte des Blancs with growers who farm their own chalk, after a grande maison’s cellar in Reims so the two schools meet on one table; then four nights in Beaune for whole-cluster Pinot Noir in Morey-Saint-Denis, biodynamic Chardonnay in Puligny-Montrachet, a natural cellar in Pommard and the négociant house under the Collégiale. Paris to Paris, six to eight guests, Chablis for lunch on the way home. The Champagne and Burgundy guides carry the geology; I carry the corkscrew.

Day 1: Paris to Reims and Épernay#

We meet at 10:00 at the Gare de l’Est, or at Charles de Gaulle an hour later for anyone landing that morning. Reims is 145 kilometres, about 1 h 45 on the A4. Lunch on your own, the cathedral where the French kings were crowned, then a cellar tour at one of the grandes maisons, down into Gallo-Roman chalk pits: the house side of the argument. Thirty minutes more to Épernay and a small hotel near the Avenue de Champagne. At 18:30 I pour four glasses to set the vocabulary, house brut, grower extra brut, blanc de blancs, blanc de noirs, and we read the small letters on each label, NM, RM, CM, which say who grew the grapes. Welcome dinner in town: jambon de Reims, a biscuit rose dipped in the last glass.

Day 2: Vertus and the Côte des Blancs#

At 09:30, 25 minutes south, Larmandier-Bernier in Vertus, premier cru at the southern end of the Côte des Blancs. Pierre Larmandier took charge in 1988, went organic in 1992 and biodynamic in 1999, early for Champagne; his wife Sophie and son Arthur work with him, and one of the family walks us through the vines and the foudres. Latitude, from south-facing Vertus slopes, is the rounder; Longitude, from a north to south line of villages, the chalkier; Terre de Vertus has no dosage and nothing missing. Lunch in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, an hour’s walk through grand cru Chardonnay, then Hautvillers above the Marne, where Dom Pérignon was cellarer from 1668 to 1715, a blender rather than the inventor of bubbles. Dinner in Épernay, the morning’s extra brut beside a house brut: dosage as the argument in two glasses.

Day 3: Avize, then south to Beaune#

Avize, grand cru Chardonnay, is 15 minutes from the hotel. Champagne Agrapart has bottled its own wine here since 1894; Pascal Agrapart has run it since 1984, his son Ambroise beside him since 2018. Twelve hectares in about 62 parcels, part old oak and part steel, indigenous yeasts, dosage kept low. Terroirs, the grand cru extra brut, is lemon peel and wet chalk with a finish that outlasts the conversation; with luck, Vénus, from 0.3 hectares planted in 1959 and ploughed by the horse it is named after. An early lunch in Avize, then the long drive, about 290 kilometres and 3 h, past Troyes. Beaune at 16:30, a hotel inside the ring boulevard, and dinner: gougères, oeufs en meurette, a village Pinot Noir to open the second half.

Day 4: Morey-Saint-Denis and the Côte de Nuits#

North at 09:00, 35 minutes to Gevrey-Chambertin, then the Route des Grands Crus at walking pace, the crus mid-slope at 250 to 300 metres. At 10:30, Domaine Dujac in Morey-Saint-Denis: Jacques Seysses bought it in 1968; his sons Jeremy and Alec and Jeremy’s wife Diana Snowden Seysses run it now, certified organic since 2011. The signature is whole-cluster fermentation, little or no destemming by vintage, then 14 to 18 months in barrel with a real share of new oak. The village Morey and, if the cellar allows, a premier cru: perfume first, a green-peppercorn lift from the stems, oak as the frame. Lunch in Vosne-Romanée, a walk round the 12th-century Cistercian walls of Clos de Vougeot, and the stone cross of Romanée-Conti, where the vines are the visit. Beaune by 17:30; dinner free tonight.

Day 5: Puligny-Montrachet, Meursault and Pommard#

Twelve kilometres south at 09:30 to Puligny-Montrachet and Domaine Leflaive: Leflaives in the village since 1717, the domaine assembled from 1905, biodynamic since Anne-Claude Leflaive decided it in 1997. No public tasting room; we come by arrangement. Barrel fermentation with modest new oak; a premier cru such as Les Pucelles is white flowers and a salt line. We walk up through Clavoillon to the wall of Montrachet, one grape on adjacent climats a few metres apart: the whole of Burgundy in an hour. Lunch in Meursault. At 15:00, Domaine Fanny Sabre in Pommard, the natural counterpoint: she took over the family vines in 2005, mentored by Philippe Pacalet, nephew of Marcel Lapierre. Whole clusters, indigenous yeasts, little or no sulfur, nothing fined or filtered: her Pommard is crunchy red fruit and iron without the armour. Dinner in Beaune, both Chardonnays and both Pinots on the table.

Day 6: Beaune, above and below ground#

At 10:00 we go under the town. Maison Joseph Drouhin dates from 1880; the fourth generation runs it, Véronique Drouhin making the wine, and its 90 hectares have been farmed organically with biodynamic practices since the 1990s. The cellars run beneath the Collégiale Notre-Dame, 13th to 18th century. Clos des Mouches red and white, the house signature from 14 hectares above Beaune, one premier cru planted to both grapes. Lunch in Beaune, then the Hôtel-Dieu of 1443: glazed-tile roofs, the Last Judgement by Rogier van der Weyden, and vines whose wine is auctioned on the third Sunday of November. Free afternoon for the cavistes. Farewell dinner at 20:00: boeuf bourguignon, Époisses with an aged white rather than a young red, and one bottle from each of the week’s six cellars, sparkling first.

Day 7: Beaune market, Chablis, Paris#

Both departures end on a Saturday, so the market is on from 08:00: Époisses, jambon persillé, the last bottles. Bags in at 09:30 and 130 kilometres north-west, 1 h 30, to Chablis. We walk up beside Les Clos on Kimmeridgian marl full of fossil oysters, then lunch in town with a village Chablis and a premier cru: green apple, steel, oyster shell without the oyster. Chablis to Paris is about 180 kilometres, 2 h, and we reach the Gare de Lyon by 16:30. Anyone leaving early I put on a morning TGV at Dijon, 40 minutes from Beaune and 1 h 35 to Paris. Bottles travel wrapped in a jumper in checked luggage; Beaune’s cavistes ship within the EU, the estates rarely do.

Who this tour is for#

For people who already drink Burgundy and Champagne and want to meet the growers, and for anyone who did the big-house tour in Reims and suspected there was more. First-timers do well too; the vocabulary is built on day 1. The walking is an hour at most on vineyard tracks, all optional. Vegetarians eat well here; gougères and Époisses are the proof. My note on what I pour and why explains why a biodynamic grand cru and a no-sulfur Pommard share a table; biodynamics without the mysticism prepares you for Vertus and Puligny. If the natural side pulls harder, the Jura and Beaujolais week is my other French route, with Ganevat in Rotalier, who learned in Chassagne-Montrachet; for Chenin, the Loire and Huet in Vouvray. Any of it runs as a private tour for two to twelve.

Practical notes#

Flights: from Brno, fly Vienna or Prague to Charles de Gaulle, about 1 h 50, where I meet you on day 1. Weather: June means flowering and 18 to 24 °C, cooler and showery on the Côte des Blancs; October is 8 to 16 °C, colour in the vines, cellars open after harvest. Pack a waterproof, shoes for vineyard tracks and a layer for cellars at 10 to 12 °C. Mobility: cellar stairs everywhere, a long staircase in Reims, the walks optional. Cards work; carry cash for the market and the smallest cellars. Shops close 12:00 to 14:00 and much is shut on Sunday and Monday, hence a house on day 1 and growers after. The FAQ covers single rooms and dietary needs; my note on visiting a winemaker explains why we arrive on time and spit more than we would like.