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Reed and I love Burgundy wines, so we were really excited to explore French Wine Country – adding Beaune to our itinerary in between London and Paris. Our travel advisor Mackenzie Peyser recommended we start off our time in France with a couple nights in Chambord in the Loire Valley, and it was a marvelous addition to our trip.
Day 1: Blois and Cheverny
Breakfast at the Relais de Chambord. 
The modern entrance to the Relais de Chambord. 
Our picnic dinner. 
Finishing a lovely tasting at Domaine Le Portail in Cheverny.
Top | Sandro cold-shoulder ruffle blouse, Shorts | DVF, Sneakers | Cole Haan
We took the train from London to Paris, and then Paris to Blois, the largest city near Chambord. Mackenzie booked us two nights at the chic Relais de Chambord, one of the “small luxury hotels of the world,” which shares the same property as the Chateau de Chambord. It’s wonderfully situated to enjoy the Chateau (though don’t be surprised when you wake up and see queuing tourists outside your window).
After breakfast the next morning, we took a taxi back into Blois to pick up our rental car which had been left for us in town. Reed took the wheel of our little maroon Fiat 500 and we started exploring. First, we popped into a vineyard that looked promising – Domaine le Portail – and tasted some wonderful wines with the owner. She was so kind and hospitable; it was a wonderful first tasting experience. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend you stop by! Several bottles in hand, we continued on to the town of Cheverny, where we had a simple lunch at a creperie and did another tasting at the wine center in town, Maison des Vins de Cheverny.
On our way back to the hotel, we popped into a little grocer’s and a bakery to pick up bread, cheese, cured meats, rillettes (meat spread in a jar) and little caramel pots de crème. Back at the hotel, we took our picnic and found a spot on the lawn across from the Chateau, where we could watch the sunset light up the front of the castle while we ate and drank and talked about everything and nothing at all.
Day 2: Chateau de Chambord
At the Chateau de Chambord. 
Dress | ASTR the label lace midi dress
We woke up early the next day so that we could have breakfast and get to the Chateau entrance right at 9:00 am, before the crowds. Built as a hunting lodge for King Francis I, the castle’s distinctive French renaissance architecture was supposedly the inspiration for the castle design in Beauty and the Beast. After entering the castle, it’s very apparent that it was not built as a permanent residence, with enormous rooms far too draughty to be comfortable in anything but the summer months. A few of the rooms are kept furnished as museum-like exhibits, and one floor was filled with strange modern art, but a visit is well worth it especially for the view from the roof and a stroll through the well-manicured garden.
Our tour complete, we packed up and hopped back in the Fiat for the three hour drive to Beaune, in the heart of Burgundy, classic French wine country. We pulled into our intimate little bed and breakfast, La Terre d’Or (the gold earth) late in the afternoon, just in time to pop a bottle of wine with Vincent, the owner, and tour his expansive cellar with a couple other guests. After a recommendation from Vincent, we made reservations in town for dinner at Le Conty, a moderately priced venue with tasty traditional regional cuisine.
One important tip if you stay in Beaune – make dinner reservations in advance. Aside from ensuring you’ll be able to try the restaurants you want (there are several very popular ones with Michelin stars), it’s just practical – we didn’t realize Beaune’s restaurants were so small and filled up so far in advance. With Vincent’s help we managed to overcome this, but I recommend researching and booking dinners beforehand.
Day 3: Nuits-Saint-Georges and Aloxe-Corton
The next day was a Catholic holiday, Assumption Day, so Vincent warned us that many of Burgundy’s small vineyards would be closed. We had decided to wing this part of our trip, so we intrepidly hopped into our Fiat and drove up towards Fixin, a region we were familiar with from one of our favorite wines back home. On the way we stopped for tastings at Maison Dufouleur Père et Fils in Nuits-Saint-Georges, and Domaine Michel Voarick in Aloxe-Corton, just down the road from the shimmery yellow Chateau de Corton Andre, where we stopped for some photos.
Our approach was to pop into any vineyard or vintner that looked promising and ask if they did tastings, which worked with about 50-50 success. One grumpy old man was extremely rude and snooty, even criticizing my imperfect French (fine, not ordering any cases from Domaine Chicotot, you old curmudgeon!) but most people were very friendly.
In the afternoon, we spent a lazy hour sipping wine by the pool and then indulged in Vincent’s “bubbles and bubbles” – a half hour in the cellar’s jacuzzi with a bottle of champagne. Heaven!
Decidedly lightheaded afterwards, we changed and joined some other guests for a tour of Vincent’s beautiful vineyard and gardens. We ended the evening with dinner at Le Jardin de Remnants, where we were probably their giggliest table of the night.
The cellars at la Terre D’Or. 
Beaune 
Peach trees outside Beaune. 
At the Château de Corton-André. 
Lunch in Beaune at Dame Tartine. 
Clos des Langres 
Enjoying the pool at la Terre D’Or.
Day 4: Beaune
We slept in the next day, and then drove back to one of the cutest properties from the day before, a pink mansion surrounded by grapevines right off the main road called Clos des Langres, part of Domaine D’Ardhuy. Nick, the director of sales, was a total sweetheart and gave us a full tour of the vineyard and cellars, and then an extensive tasting. It was a fantastic experience and we excitedly purchased a case to send home.
I’ve never been tipsy before noon so many days in a row, so we decided to skip the other spots we had earmarked and spend the afternoon exploring Beaune. We had a terrific traditional lunch at a café called Dame Tartine – eggs poached in wine to start (oeufs en meurettes), and beef Bourguignon for the main course. We lounged by the pool again in the afternoon, had dinner at Le Cheval Noir, and then people-watched at a café with our nightcaps. We finished the evening (and some more wine) with some friends we had made back at la Terre d’Or. It was wonderful way to end our stay in Burgundy!
We didn’t do much research in advance our trip to Burgundy, but after our trip it seems like you can do wine tastings three ways – book guided tours (pricey, but I’m sure it would be worth it, especially if you want to be shown around by experts), book individual tours yourself (best if you’re a wine connoisseur and know exactly where you want to go), or wing it and drive around on your own, stopping at places that look cool and talking to the locals, which is what we did. Though we faced our fair share of rejection, and even some snobbery, overall we had a wonderful experience in the Loire Valley and Burgundy and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Do you have any tips for visiting French wine country? Let me know in the comments!
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