BURGUNDY
ESSENTIALS PARIS
LA CÔTE SAINT JACQUES & SPA
Joigny Auxerre Chablis
CAVES BIENVENU
CÔTE D’OR
CHÂTEAU DE POMMARD ED.EM
20 miles
CHÂTEAU DE SAINT-AUBIN Saint-Aubin
Getting there & around
Eurostar runs multiple daily services from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord, with a typical journey of 2hr16m.
eurostar.com Alternatively, EasyJet fl ies to Dijon from Gatwick, Luton or Manchester; British Airways from Heathrow, and Air France from Heathrow and Manchester.
easyjet.com
ba.com
airfrance.com Average fl ight time: 1h20m. In Paris, Hertz rents cars from just beside the Gare du Nord or from either airport, with the option to return in Dijon.
hertz.co.uk
When to go
Spring has average temperatures of 20C, while autumn offers the sights and fl avours of the harvest. Summer temperatures can top 30C, while winters are cold and cloudy.
tasting room, Micault, is still named for him. I feel the centuries fl ow into my glass along with the excellent wine. Baum, who admits he “grew up on beer and cheesesteaks” is bringing a US expansiveness to these enclosed vineyards — most Burgundian wineries don’t welcome visitors without appointments, let alone partner with a ballooning company like France Montgolfi ères so that you can learn about the vineyards while fl oating quietly above them: an angel’s-eye view. When it’s fi nished, Baum’s hotel will be a
very modern proposition compared to the Château de Saint-Aubin, a building that off ers the sort of intimate, rural luxury that the French do so well. At the latter, hostess Pascale Rifaux shows me to my sumptuous bedroom and together we look out over the Saint-Aubin vines. “Premier Cru near the house, ordinary Villages beyond — the classifi cations are so much easier to explain when they’re right in front of you,” she says, handing me the keys to the swimming pool that sits between chateau and vineyard with a conspiratorial wink. The next morning, she goes early to market for my breakfast bread and croissants; by the time I leave, Pascale seems more like a friend putting me up for the weekend — albeit in luxury. Chatting to Pascale, as she opens wines for
me to taste, I realise I’ve failed to consider something important in my odyssey across
Burgundy: its ordinary people. The region was never just the domain of monks, dukes and saints, as large and immortal as their stories have become. The heady tapestry of vines and churches braided across the fertile region always stood to elevate the general population, too — and, it seems, the travellers who pass through it. As I sip heavenly wine wrought from this earth, and note the passing of time by the bell clanging in Saint-Aubin’s tiny, 10th-century church, I feel that thanks are due to the land’s custodians — and perhaps a higher power. However, it’s in the neighbouring village,
Chassagne-Montrachet, that I have a true epiphany. La Cabane is a cabin attached to what the French call ‘un food truck’, created by the owners of Michelin-starred Ed.Em. Here, I drink Saint-Aubin Premier Cru with a bowl of buttery snails, washing that down with a goblet of Chassagne-Montrachet paired with a plate of local pigeon. I wonder if there can be anything more miraculous than tasting a great wine in its birthplace, accompanied by a bird that likely fed on the very same grapes. I’ve journeyed from Saint Jacques to Saint-Aubin, and if neither martyr would’ve approved of my focus on temporal pleasures, they at least would have agreed that these wines were a link between heaven and earth, for pilgrims of all kinds.
Where to stay
La Côte Saint Jacques & Spa, Joigny. Doubles from £275, B&B.
cotesaintjacques.com Grand Hôtel La Cloche, Dijon. From £150, room only.
hotel-lacloche.fr Château de Saint-Aubin, Saint-Aubin. From £214, B&B.
chateau-st-aubin.com
Places mentioned
Caves Bienvenu.
caves-bienvenu.fr Château de Pommard.
chateaudepommard.com France Montgolfi ères hot air ballooning.
franceballoons.com Loiseau des Ducs.
bernard-loiseau.com La Cabane.
restaurant-edem.com/fr/
la-cabane.html
More info
Burgundy Tourism.
burgundy-tourism.com
How to do it
BOURGOGNE GOLD TOUR offers bespoke day tours of either Chablis and Grand Auxerrois or the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune from £420 per person (minimum two people), including private vehicle and driver, wine-tastings and bilingual guide.
bourgogne-gold-tour.com
November 2021 111 Dijon BURGUNDY Dijon FRANCE
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