Has anyone been to any wonderful wineries in the Beaune area? I know about the Marche du Vin, but we really would rather visit the wineries.

We will be in Beaune in mid-May. When are you going?

We also wish to do some wine-tasting. Having heard mixed reviews of Marche du Vin, I'm hesitant about going there. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I actually found some good reviews on Gevrey-Chambertain wines produced by Louis Jadot and have an appt with them for a tasting.

Goto http://www.bivb.com/uk/index-uk.html

Click on cellars & then click on the logo. You will find a lists of wineries that you can possibly visit.

Ian

hey Shopgirl -- we're going to be staying near Gevrey-Chambertain May 17 and 18, and hope to visit some wineries too -- How did you get the appt at Louis Jadot? We actually buy some of his wines here in DC...

Hi, we visted the winery of Daniel Rion outside of Beaune (I forget the name of the town, but we did stop in the lovely village of Alexe Corton on the way - there were some wineries and tastings there). My husband e-mailed them prior to our visit and arranged for a tour on a Saturday morning. One of the family members met us, gave us a tour and we did some barrel tasting and finished off with a tasting of 3 or 4 wines. It was great. In the afternoon we went to Mersault (another slightly larger village that we liked very much), and went to the chateau de Mersault. It was sort of commercial, but it was a nice chateau with some interesting art and a great cellar. They did charge a tasting fee, but I thought it was worth it. Have fun.

Thanks all for your ideas...
Shopgirl..we will be there in early July.

So Suki, You only prearranged one tour? I was wondering if the wineries are usually crowded then?

hey uhoh_busted...
We will be in Beaune on May 14 (heading to Paris on the 15th). I read good reviews (possibly from Wine Spectator)on some Gevrey-Chambertain wines and when researching them found out they are produced by Louis Jadot - who knew? I just emailed them and they were very accomodating in setting up an appt. However, although they have vineyards in G-C, their cellars are actually in Beaune. Check out www.louisjadot.com. I'm hoping that after the appt, we can stop by other wineries...

Thanks -- I'll do a search on google.
We are used to just stopping in at our favorite wineries in Sonoma CA and closer to home in Virignia (don't laugh...there really are a couple of EXCELLENT Virginia wineries.) Do the French follow a similar practiceas the Italians by closing down from noon to 3PM (or whatever it was...) If so, we'll plan to have our big meal at lunch. But tasting wines in the AM (even making frequent use of that spit jar) is SOOOOOOOOOOO dangerous!

And Monsieur Busted, I hear that driving after visiting a few wineries can be quite costly if you are stopped by police.

We are used to Napa/Sonoma. And Texas wineries. Hey Texas A & M helped the French out when their vines were diseased many years ago.

Wren, we had our children with us so we did not want to overdue the wineries. It seemed as though on a weekend you would have to prearrange a tour but during the week you could stop in many more wineries. However, I did notice in Alexe Corton at least four places that had their "degustation" signs out.

We were there last year in May. If you are in the Beaune area and love port as well as wine you must visit the des forges winery in Merseault. It is just a small family run winery, they also make a wonderful porto at their place in Portugal that they have been selling through their winery in France. The owner Sohpie was very helpful and spent a lot of time with us tasting many different ports.We took a great 1 day cycle trip south of Beaune and visited several villages and sampled just a few wines (it's hard to ride too hard with too much wine). I would also recommend Pommard which is very close to Beaune - excellent wine. You can't go wrong in the Beaune region.

Hi, wren,

The wines at the Marche du Vin were generally hideous (and, believe me, I am just a normal wine drinker). One would only go there for the environment (and that isn't much to write home about). The recommendations from restauranteurs brought us our best wine selections and memories. See me earlier reply to another poster asking for advice on wines in France.

Happy travels.

John H.

Monsieur Busted will have to do most of the driving...I read the maps and tell him where to go ;-) Thank you, Adelle for the suggestion of des forges de Merseault. We just started drinking port this past year. mmmmmmmmmmmyum.