“Leave it to my wife to take us to the middle of nowhere.” – Jon.
After hours of clicking random pages on the internet, I somehow landed on Beaune’s tourism site. The perfect town to stop in on the way from France to Switzerland.
To be fair, it’s not quite the middle of nowhere. And how can it be nowhere when it was exactly where I wanted to be. Beaune is along a 28 km wine trail in the Burgundy region. It was my favorite and the most comical stop on our honeymoon.
We took an early train out of Paris, so we could enjoy the whole day in Beaune. We rented bikes from our lovely hotel and headed to the wine trail. You can pay for an organized biking tour, but I said heck we know how to bike. We can find the wineries. Wrong.
After an hour of biking around the town, we started to look like lost puppies looking for their mother except more desperate. We were lost adults looking for wine. The trail is not clearly marked. I would’ve really appreciated a “Stupid Tourist the Wine Trail is this Way.” sign. We finally met a nice German couple who showed us the way.
If you are not a regular biker, this route is exhausting. We only made it 8.6 km. We asked our hotel concierge for recommendations of places to stop, so we visited Chateau de Pommard and Chateau de Meursault wineries. I specifically asked for ones where we paid for tastings, so we wouldn’t be asked to buy wine. I’m sure there are ones who will do it for free.
I’d definitely make these two stops again. The Chateau de Pommard grounds were stunning. At Chateau de Meursault, you can do a tour and tasting. The tour takes you through their “humid” cellars. I believe they said it was 80% humidity. I just laughed. “We live in 100% humidity,” said the Houstonian. They take you through a room that’s built in the 12th century. We tasted seven wines and brandy and then had to bike back home. Struggle bus.
Check out the other wine regions we’ve visited here. We really like wine.
What wine regions have you visited? Leave a comment with your favorites.