Burgundy region - which month?
 

We prefer to travel in the months of April, May, September or October. Don't like to be too hot or too cold.

Which of those months might provide the best experience in seeing the vineyards? We aren't wine connoisseurs and won't do more than a drive/stop/look at the vines. Would just like to have pleasant drives, visit Dijon, Beaune and a couple small towns, probably golf.

When are grapes usually harvested? Is it a bad time to visit then? (too busy, too crowded..etc).

We were in Burgundy the last 2 weeks of Sept last year, and the wine harvest was going strong then.

Stu Dudley

Burgundy

In sept they can be very busy so they will like you in and out of the shop. I prefer May (might be wet but warm rain) Also May is before the oturists arrive. The various vinotech places will be happy any time of the year. Vines themselves will look good in May and also october as there is more hand picking in the area so leaves may be changing colour.

Can I suggest you look at Chablis/Auxerre as a Burgundy wine area with less of a wine feel to it and more of other things ot see and do particualarly abbeys etc.

If you go to Burgundy south then Dijon is more cosmopolitan while many of the towns north are so wine orientated you may be bored

Thank you for your responses... I am leaning toward going the 2nd half of September (2008)... have been collecting brochures etc.

Am also considering various scenarios for train/driving combinations - might like to get the car at Auxerre so we can drive a bit as we go toward Beaune/Dijon.

Well, it's a long way off, but I have AA vouchers and was trying to decide where to apply them.

September is lovely.

we had a great visit in June last year - cherries, strawberries and asparagus. Not too hot and not too many tourists.

Recommend Auxerre and, south of there the Auberge les Tilleuls, a civilized inn/restaurant next to a peaceful canal.

Harvest time is often a bad time to visit agricultural regions - when we visited Tuscany in Sept a few years back a lot was closed due to harvest.
It wouldnt be a good time to visit vineyards.

We had a delightful meal as well at Les Tilleuls! We prefer to travel in September, weather is more predictable IMO in the fall than in the spring and we enjoy the changing leaves and watching the harvest take place. A multitude of freshly gathered muhsrooms and produce in the markets,

If you're not wine connoisseurs...be sure to try the vin bourru when it come out! Sort of a semib-bubbly, un-aged wine--just has foil poked w/holes over the top. No cork!

When we were in Beaujolais & Burgundy for the entire month of Sept last year, we encountered nothng being closed due to the harvest. We actually stayed at a winery in Beaujolais & they picked grapes just out the front window of our Gite, and same with our Gite in Burgundy. Tours were going on at the winery next to our Burgundy Gite.

Stu Dudley