have about 6 days to tour about the wine country of france. thinking we would like burgandy and loire? doable by car
we like charming villages, great food, great wine, biking etc. charming hotels but
would love a chateau for a night. any suggestions? going in July (one month)

The Loire is pretty easy for a bike tour with wine and good food. The river is long but it is basically flat with a good bike path. You can do the same by car. You may not be familar with the grapes, Chenin and Cab. Franc. You can catch a train to a local town and hire car or bike from there. http://www.cycling-loire.com/ . Tasting can be at the producer or at village tasting areas.

Burgundy is a little more complicated, firstly it is really two areas (Chablis and Auxerre) and Burgundy proper grapes are more familiar with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay though quality Chablis is a bit special. Far hillier and tastings are probably a little harder to find but not much. Chateau a little less common

Agree with Bilboburgler. I have toured 3 wine regions by bike:Alsace, Burgundy and Loire. Loire flattest, Burgundy seemed most prestigious, especially around Beaune and the Route des Grand Crus and Alsace gave me a hit of French/ German culture and art along with wines. Least impressed by the Loire.

http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk/Yonne_Guide.php might interest you

this is great-thank you. do we need to rent a car to get from loire to burgandy if we go that route? I will leave the wine choices to my husband. open to any wine area not just those...

also, can we go directly from wine region to the airport in Paris? or best to return to Paris for a night and go the next day. flight in the afternoon. thanks everyone for your help

We have been to Alsace and Burgundy wine areas and loved both...great food, lovely villages.

My pics of Alsace https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...7644953485474/

And Burgundy https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...7607493717331/

>>>Burgundy is a little more complicated, firstly it is really two areas (Chablis and Auxerre) <<<

Actually, it is at least five regions: the Beaujolais, the Maconnais and the Cote d'Or.

The Cote d'Or (the stretch between Dijon and Beaune) is the heart of Bourgogne. You will find there picturesque villages, wineries (many of them family-owned), the Clos de Vougeot castle, the most beautiful city of Beaune and excellent accomodation.

For a castle hotel that does not break the bank, I recommend this one (nice building, beautiful romantic park, excellent food, pool):

www.chateau-saulon.com

Auxerre is also a charming old town but pretty far away from the Cote d'Or, so you may think about a second base there. Chablis is more like a village with huge, heavily industrialized wine factories around.

Alsace is a most beautiful region with historic towns and villages, mountains, lakes, hiking trails, at least two great cities (Strasbourg and Colmar and Rouffach and...), good museums, excellent food - but it is somewhat restricted to white wines (and fruit schnapps).

"huge, heavily industrialized wine factories around."

a little over stated not huge or heavy, but certainly new steel sheds. Still the jewel is the old village rather than the recently expanded wine growing areas (note that that which was Petit Chablis is mainly now Chablis while what was once wheat fields is now Petit Chablis) as a result do not touch Petit Chablis

My English was poor, Auxerre and Chablis is one section, Burgundy proper is the other. While Beaujolais is correctly in Burgundy I struggle to drink the filthy stuff myself and only lovers of coca cola would enjoy the stuff.


Loire to Burgundy. It really depends on where to where, the Loire is 1000km long and Burgundy is biggish. The train system does go cross country but many do tend to go into Paris and out again. If I had a car in the Loire I'd drive to Burgundy.

Burgundy to CDG again you need to look at train time tables and you airport timetables. It is certainly possible to catch trains easily and they tend to run on time though watch out for strikes

"While Beaujolais is correctly in Burgundy I struggle to drink the filthy stuff myself and only lovers of coca cola would enjoy the stuff."

Obviously complete nonsense. This may be quite a bit true of the Nouveau that is produced each year, mostly as a cynical marketing exercise, but it gives the wrong impression of the ten Beajolais "Cru" from the designated villages or areas down the valley from Macon.

One of the best trips that we ever did was staying at Les Maritonnes near Romanesche and touring the various wine producers in the different areas. The difference in the wine from a light Fleurie to a full bodied Moulin a Vent or Julienas is remarkable. We were fortunate to be in our SUV and were able to bring lots of the delicious stuff home.

I still have 6 Moulin a Vent that should be vinegar by now, but we opened one that was number 7 some weeks ago and it was fantastic.

It's a great area to visit.

The Alsace region of France is probably the best and most famous wine region in France. The towns and villages of Alsace are built on wine trade, and its wine is a combination of French and German wine, as Alsace was the Apple of Discord between the two nations for centuries. La Route des Vins d'Alsace is exactly what you search for, it's the Top in France. Alsace also has one of the best sceneries in the country, its capital Strasbourg is in my opinion the second most beautiful city of France after Paris, obviously. The Architecture of the city is a great mix of French and German culture, the Cathedral is a true wonder, the Old City is built on an island, in some parts it has canals and thats why it's called Petite Venise. Strasbourg wasn't bombed in WWII, retaining its medieval heart. Now the villages of Alsace are considered the most beautiful in Europe, the best being Colmar and Riquewihr.

Here is a great article from The Guardian, for the Wine Route of Alsace: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/20...0-guide-france

I too have Beaujolais that is drinkable after the first 10 years but the price was very high and the wait was difficult with a high chance of failure. So no, not close to my favorite wine, down there with Syria and Tunisian reds. Ignoring the Nouveau (which is only drunk now mainly by Bulgarians and Romanians) the young wines taste like coke or jam.

Alsace is a lovely visit but the OP wanted to talk about Loire and Burgundy. Champagne is also good.

thank you all for your responses. we chose alsace and burgandy. so now some logistics. Was thinking of leaving paris on friday am on TGV to dijon. renting a car. stay in Dijon overnight? then drive to beune (take the train and rent car there?) drive around burgandy and then drive to Colum and the wine route to alsace. drop car on wednesday and take TGV back to paris.
is this the best way and what about staying overnight in strasborg? or stay in countryside and drive/train to strasborg for the day?

thanks all-you have made this planning so much easier.