Beaune is the best base for a wine trip through Burgundy. The centre has dozens of wine bars, and within half an hour's drive you are in the famous wine villages of the Côte d'Or. Below, where to drink a glass in Beaune, which wineries you can visit and where to eat in the villages.
The region in brief
The Côte d'Or is a narrow strip of hills some fifty kilometres long. In the north is the Côte de Nuits, with villages such as Gevrey-Chambertin and Vosne-Romanée and mostly red wine from Pinot Noir. In the south is the Côte de Beaune, home also to the great white wines from Chardonnay, from Meursault, Puligny- and Chassagne-Montrachet. Chablis is separate, more than an hour's drive north, with taut Chardonnay on limestone.
Wine bars in Beaune
L'Arche des Vins is in a medieval street and is a wine bar and wine shop in one, with French dishes and a terrace. La Dilettante on the Rue du Faubourg Bretonnière is open for lunch, dinner and a late glass, with small dishes. On the edge of the centre, Le Bout du Monde has a big cellar with plenty of Burgundy and a terrace for after a long day of tasting. Le Comptoir des Tontons, with the red façade, is bistro, wine bar and wine shop at once.
On the Place Ziem is Bistrot du Coin, a small wine café where the owner is happy to help you plan which estates to visit. La Maison du Colombier is a gastro bar with plenty of wine and tapas, where you can also stay the night. If after a day of Burgundy you want something different, Enstase has bao and tapas. At Loiseau des Vignes, close to the Hospices, you can choose from 32 wines by the glass from four climate-controlled cabinets.
Tasting in Beaune
At Maison Denis Perret on the Place Carnot you can taste the wines of five large négociants, including Bouchard, Drouhin and Jadot. Under the cobblestones of Beaune lie the cellars of Patriarche, five kilometres of tunnels with more than two million bottles. You walk around on your own with an audio guide. Smaller is Coudurier Jung, an urban winery with a cellar of a handful of barrels, without filtration and with little sulphur. Domaine des Croix receives visitors by appointment, except in September and October.
The Côte de Beaune
In Meursault, the Caveau de l'Hôtel Les Charmes pours almost 500 wines, including all the premiers crus of Meursault, at shop price plus €10. Just down the road you eat at Le Soufflot, in an old winegrower's house. In a side street of Chassagne-Montrachet is Colette, a wine bar with a cellar where you can also buy bottles at good prices.
In Savigny-lès-Beaune, Chandon de Briailles has farmed biodynamically since 2005, with vineyards in three villages. Domaine Rapet in Pernand-Vergelesses, at the foot of the Corton, has made wine for more than 250 years. In Auxey-Duresses, monks from Cluny planted the vineyards of Le Clos du Moulin aux Moines in 962, with a windmill above the vines. And at Réserve de Bacchus in Ladoix-Serrigny there are more than 1,000 wines, handy for taking a few bottles home at the end of your trip.
The Côte de Nuits and Chablis
In Vosne-Romanée, Louis-Michel Liger-Belair opened La Cuverie in 2022, a meeting place looking out on the Clos du Château. Domaine Trapet in Gevrey-Chambertin receives a maximum of four people at a time, with a Burgundian meal and five wines.
In Chablis, Chablis Wine Not is in an old pharmacy, and the winemakers drink there themselves. Domaine Duplessis has premiers crus and grand cru Les Clos, from vines that are 75 years or older on many plots.
Tip
At most small estates in Burgundy you need an appointment, and during the harvest in September and October many houses take no visitors. In the wine bars of Beaune and Meursault you taste the wines of estates you can't visit. All addresses are also in the Burgundy guide.
