Tag Archives: beaune

(Small) Guide to Burgundy

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After spending a few days in Burgundy this summer, and a few days some years ago, I’ve put together a few tips and suggestions for anyone who is thinking about visiting this beautiful wine region.

Where to Stay

I always stay in Beaune. A relatively big town, compared to the other small ones like Volnay or Mersault, it has everything you’ll need, along with some pretty great restaurants. Many Airbnb’s are scattered over the city, as well as many different hotels. Depends on your price range and wishes, of course, but you’ll most likely find a place that suits your needs.

A place I can highly recommend is Beaune Duplex Maison du Bastion 4, found on Airbnb. Beautiful garden, nice rooms, kitchen and parking. There are also multiple apartments, so larger groups can fit nicely here.

Where to Eat

Here are some of my go-to places for lunch and dinner:

Caves Madeleine
Le Bistrot Bourguignon
Ma Cuisine
La Sufflot
Volnaysien

Wineries

Now, Burgundy is busting with wineries. Of all sizes, shapes and forms. We all have different tastes and preferences, and mine might vary drastically from yours. But here are some of my favorite winemakers in the area.

Michel Lafarge
Joseph Voillot
Domaine Dujac
Comte Liger-Belair
Benjamin Leroux
Matrot

Wine Shopping (the best kind of shopping)

If you’re looking to buy wine in Burgundy, here are some of the best places (in my opinion) to find great wines.

Mes Bourgognes Beaune
Cavon de Bacchus, Nuits St George
Caveau de Puligny Montrachet
Caveau Chassagne Montrachet

“Sightseeing”

One thing I recommend everyone to do, is to just explore. These small towns are filled with beautiful streets, buildings and “landmarks”. You can take a stroll down “Rue de La Tache”, or walk to the famous Romanee-Conti vineyard or take the “obligatory” picture with the cross. So much history and so many great wines. It’s paradise for us wine lovers. And I can’t wait to go back!

Joseph Voillot

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A secret in Volnay

Prices in Burgundy are soaring, but there are still some very good producers flying under the radar, with prices relatively low. One of these producers is Joseph Voillot.

A stonethrow away from another great producer, Michel Lafarge, you’ll find the Voillot family. At the moment it is Etienne and his uncle who run things. Don’t ask me about the family intricacies of families in Bourgogne. It’s too complicated. But the bottom line is that the Voillot winery is a family winery.

2017 – a normal vintage

The new vintage released is the 2017. 2017 was a normal year, no frost damage, no hail damage – so what they would call a normal year. There was some frost and hail, but not out of the ordinary and not as damaging as 2016. To combat the frost 2017 they used smoke, as you’ve probably seen in the pictures.

Joseph Voillot makes about 12 different wine, we tried 10 of the. Pardon my spelling, I did my best:
Bourgogne Aligoté
Mersault Les Chevaliers
Mersault Les Cras
Bourgogne Vielles Vigne
Pommard Vielles VIgne
Beaune aux Coucherias
Volnay Les Fremiets
Volnay Les Champans
Pommard Les Pezerolles
Pommard Les Rugiens

My Voillot Favorites

In all honesty, all the wines were good. Voillot makes wines with incredible passion, hard work and meticulous attention to detail. For them, the most important part of winemaking is the fruit. They destem the grapes, instead of using whole cluster, because they believe it takes away from the fruit. They work diligently in the vineyard to make sure that when the harvest comes along, the fruit is perfect.

Among the 10 wines we tasted, my favorites were the Bourgogne Vielles Vigne 2017, Beaune aux Coucheries 2017 and the Volnay Les Fremiets 2017. Out of all the wines, these (for me) were the most elegant and very easy to drink. I think in a few years, (5-10) the Volnay Les Champans will be incredible! So many good options to chose from!

Caves Madeleine

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Caves Madeleine has always been a go to restaurant for our family when we are in Bourgogne, and this time was no different. However, since the owner changed the food has become a lot better. It is one of the best meals I have eaten in a very long time. We all wished we could eat non stop to be able to try the whole menu. Maybe next time.

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The restaurant is located just outside the Beaune circle, and the small space seats about 25 people. The menu is scribbled on a black board in french, so we all had a little bit of trouble understanding the menu at first. Thankfully the staff spoke english very well and helped us figure out what we wanted to eat. The picture below is just a sneak peak of what we ate.

When it came to choosing the wine, we first tried to order something new. When the wine arrived, we all thought it was very strange and did not care for it very much. The waiter was extremely kind and let us chose another bottle. The service over all was incredible. I am very excited to go back again next time I am in Bourgogne.

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Volnay

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I have arrived in Bourgogne and I spent the first half of today in Volnay. It started with a winery visit with Joseph Voillot. Legendry. He spoke no english and my french is about as good as my mandarin, but we made it through and tasted some very good wines.

Lunch was incredible. We ended up at Le Cellier Volnaysien at the reccomendation of Mr. Voillot. His favorites were the poached eggs and Coq au vin. We did not try the egg, but my three companions (my family) had the Coq au vin and it was very good! We tried one of his white wines, Mersault Les Cras, and it was very good!

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So far the trip to Bourgogne has been very good! Hopefully the next visits will be just as fun!