Silent Saturday – Lyon, France
Burgundy, France: Wine 101
We spent two days meandering through Burgundy sipping our way through miles of vineyards and caves. As none of us are experts on French wine, we booked a private tour on Sunday, our first full day, so we could learn the basics.
While it was a bit pricey, having a guide who is a local but also speaks English, was very helpful and allowed us to learn more than we every imagined. By Sunday evening we knew more about Burgundy and the French wines from this region than we thought we could learn in one day.
Here are some of the things we learned along the way from our fearless guide.
- Burgundy has been making wine for over 2,000 years.
- When Romans arrived, Pinot Noir was growing wild.
- Even with only 2 grapes in the region, pinot noir and chardonnay, there are over 1,000 flavors.
- There are 3 key things which influence the wine:
- Terroir: Terroir is the description of where the wine is grown. The steepness of the slope, the soil, etc
- Wine maker: Their education and background can greatly influence the wine and the process.
- Weather: Was it a rainy year? Warm? Too cold? All of this affects the grapes!
- There are some key differences between Burgundy and California wines:
- In France there 1 meter between the rows versus 2 in California in order to stimulate competition between the plants.
- In Burgundy they want the roots to go deep into the limestone instead of horizontal.
- There are 4,000 plants per acre in Burgundy.
- The vines are much shorter than what you find in California as they want the grapes close to the soil so the sun will hit the soil and give off heat.
- Pinot Noir in France has more mineral flavor than California which is more fruity.
- It takes two vines to produce one bottle of wine in Burgundy
- Wines from Burgundy can be classified in one of four ways
- Regional appellations– 52% of wines produced
- Village or Commune appellations- 36% of wines produced, only Pinot and Chardonnay grapes
- Premiere Cru- come from the top of the slope and account for 10% of wines produced
- Gran Cru – 1.5% of wines from the region, begin at 50 euro but can go up to 2,800 euro in price
Your turn: Are you team red or white?
18 Hours in Dijon, France
Living in Geneva is perfect for long weekend trips as it is centrally located whether you want to hop in a rental car or fly.
This weekend we traveled through the Burgundy region of France with our friends who are visiting from Cincinnati. We’ve spent at least a weekend traveling together each year for the past 4 years as couples though Amy and I have traveled together for more than 8 years at this point. Traveling with good friends makes everything easier as you don’t have to know their travel preferences. Our group loves exploring cities together and savoring the fine food and wine just as much as the historic sites.
We spent just over 18 hours in Dijon on Saturday, the first stop on our tour.
After checking in at our hotel, The Grand Hotel La Cloche-Dijon, we headed out for a long walk through the small city. The front desk suggested we follow the golden owl triangles which lead visitors through a 2 mile path around the city’s primary sights.
Two hours walking around the city before dinner was the perfect amount of time to wander the streets, stopping in shops and sights at our leisure. The city was bustling yesterday due to the beautiful, cool end of Summer weather and final tourist weekends of the holiday season.
Instead of sitting down for a late lunch we chose to wander in shops, picking up provisions along the way and settling for a picnic lunch near a fountain in the city center.
A baguette, two cans of pate and a bottle of local pinot noir was the perfect afternoon snack! We kept it classy by passing the bottle and sharing the baguette and pate while sitting on the fountain steps.
We wandered into multiple mustard shops, including the most famous, Boutique Maille. Here Ryan and Amy were able to buy mustards not available anywhere else in the world in addition to watching the salespeople fill containers from the “mustard tap.” 
From there we meandered through the streets to the 3 well known churches in Dijon.
- Notre Dame – 13th century Gothic church
- St–Benigne – Great example of Romanesque art in Burgundy.
- Saint Michelle- lower facade is a great example of Renaissance architecture
Unfortunately, we were not able to visit Les Halles, Dijon’s historic market which is filled with food vendors, tapestries and local antiques! Otherwise, 18 hours was the perfect amount of time to enjoy most of the city’s prominent sites, a delicious dinner and good night’s sleep before heading into wine country for two days of wine tasting.
Are you a quick tourist or do you like to have a leisurely trip in cities, meandering your way through the sights and allowing plenty of time for relaxation?
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