The wine tour to the Côte d’Or, the heart of Burgundy, exclusive wines, family owned wine estates, world famous villages
— This wine tour takes you to the Côte d’Or, the heart of Burgundy. It is a magic place. It can make anyone dream. It is a special feeling to travel through these famous villages that produce some of the world’s most expensive wines. And some of the most outstanding ones. And at the same time, making wine in Burgundy is not easy. It takes a skilful winemaker to bring out the best in the pinot noir and chardonnay grapes. This is a wine tour with fabulous wines and wonderful French gastronomy.
Tour Highlights
- 4 nights
- Private tastings, approx. 10
- Focus on the wines of Côte d’Or
- Beaune
- Price: [sample programme]
- Magnificent tastings with grand cru wines
- Meeting the winemakers
- Organics and biodynamics
- Outstanding Burgundian gastronomy
Please Note: This Is A Sample Programme
This is a sample programme, an example. Every wine and food tour that we organise is different and specially adapted for the season and the circumstances. Details in the programme, e.g. which producers we visit, will be different each time.
- This tour is sometimes available on our scheduled wine and food tour programme
- It can be designed specifically for you as a custom made private wine tour.
Next Wine Tour To Burgundy
- This tour is currently not on our tour schedule. Contact us for information about future dates or to discuss a custom tour.
When it comes to Burgundy wines, especially the red pinot noir, you really have to know where to go to find the best. A mention of “grand cru” on the label is not always a proof of quality in the wine. You also have to know who was the producer. Nowhere else is the family name on the bottle as important. If you focus on finding “grand cru” on the label then you will miss many of the most exciting wines. The best way to discover the very best of Burgundy is to go there and to go there with someone who knows where to find the gems.
La Côte d’Or, “the golden slope”, is full of exciting vineyards. The classification system can sometimes seem complicated but when you come here you will see that it is actually quite straight forward. The producers that we will visit are a mix of famous, well-known wineries and rising stars.
On this tour, you will have the opportunity to taste a large number and a wide range of wines, from “simple” AOC/AOP Bourgogne up to the finest and most exclusive grand crus. Seldom do you get as extravagant wine tastings as on our tour to Burgundy. Our visits will be focused on the Côte d’Or, the heart of Burgundy. We stay centrally in Beaune, France’s most charming wine village with around 20,000 inhabitants. There are some superb restaurants to choose from.
This is a wonderful wine tour with extraordinary wines, gastronomic meals with regional specialities, personal winery visits and beautiful landscapes.
The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.
Programme — Burgundy wine tour
Preliminary programme.
Contact BKWine for more details.
Sample programme
This is a sample programme, an example. You can find the wine tours currently on the schedule here, or you can explore a custom designed wine tour by contacting us.
There may be changes to some details of the programme, e.g. which wineries we visit. We put great effort into making your visits both exceptional and memorable. For this reason we often visit other than the most obvious, big-name producers (where there are often a number of guides employed). Instead we chose to give you a more unique, personal experience at our carefully selected estates, often (but not always) meeting the owner or the winemaker.
Programme overview
- Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Beaune
- Day 2, Thursday — Côte de Nuits
- Day 3, Friday — Côte de Nuits
- Day 4, Saturday —Côte de Beaune
- Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home
Wednesday, day 1 — Arrival in Beaune
Arrival in Beaune and check-in at our centrally located hotel, just a short walk from the Hôtel Dieu.
Beaune is a town with a lot of personality. It has a very old town centre. There are plenty of restaurants and cafés to explore. You can find both traditional French bistros, luxurious gourmet restaurants, even excellent Japanese food if you feel the need for something different. Plenty to keep you busy in the evenings.
Close to Place Carnot, the main square, you will find the Hôtel Dieu (Hospices de Beaune) that you should definitely try and visit. It is one of Burgundy’s and France’s great tourist attractions. It is, or was, a hospital dating back to the 15th century, it was finished in 1451. In the courtyard, you can see the extraordinary roof with coloured roof tiles, typical for Burgundy.
The evening is free to stroll around Burgundy.
Thursday, day 2 — Côte de Nuits
After breakfast, our bus will pick us up and we leave Beaune and head north. We pass the famous Corton hill and continue towards Côte de Nuits.
We will visit a very interesting biodynamic estate in Morey-Saint-Denis, Domaine Michel Magnien. We will visit the wine cellar which is quite untraditional because many of the wines are fermented and aged in terracotta amphorae. The estate has some excellent vineyard locations and we will discover this during our magnificent tasting of premier and grand cru wines.
We then continue a little further north, past Gevrey-Chambertin, to the village of Fixin, where we will visit Philippe and Martine Bernard at Clos Saint Louis. First, we’ll go for a short walk and look at the vines together with Philippe, the owner and the winemaker. He will explain the importance of the work in the vineyard. Then our charming host and his wife invites us to a delicious lunch buffet. But not just any buffet. Everything is homemade by Martine herself. Philippe’s wines will go very well with the food.
On our way south again we stop in Vosne-Romanée and look at the most expensive and famous grand cru vineyards, La Romanée Conti, La Tâche and Richebourg, mythical wines that today cost several thousand euros. Per bottle. We end the day with a visit to a family winery in Prémeaux Prissey near Nuits-Saint-Georges. The family has more than 20 hectares of vineyards spread over as many appellations, both in the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits. They make wines in a structured, tannin-rich style.
The evening is free for taking a walk to explore Beaune. Stroll through the narrow streets, discover the old houses and perhaps the Town Hall.
Friday, day 3 — Côte de Nuits
Today our first visit will be up in the northern part of the Côte de Nuits. The entire Côte de Nuits is a narrow strip of land extending 23 kilometres from north to south. Here some of the world’s most sought-after red wines are made.
The last village in Côte de Nuits, before we reach Dijon, is Marsannay. Here we will visit the Guyot family, making wine in Marsannay for a long time. The current owner Olivier has been involved in the work on the estate since early childhood. He has some superb vineyards in Marsannay, Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny and other villages in the Côte de Nuits.
The lunch today will be at a very high-quality estate with 11.5 hectares of excellent vineyards in Gevrey-Chambertin and the neighbouring villages. The owner has prepared a true Burgundian four course lunch for us and we will drink some of their superb wines, including some premier and grand crus.
We then hop on the bus and head south again. We will stop and look at the beautiful Château du Clos de Vougeot, located in the middle of the grand cru vineyard of Clos de Vougeot. We will have an afternoon visit near Nuits-Saint-Georges before it is time to return to the hotel.
Late afternoon we are back in Beaune. Free evening. Maybe an aperitif at a wine bar to whet your appetite?
Saturday, day 4 — Côte de Beaune
Today, the early riser can enjoy the Saturday morning market in Beaune. It is above all a wonderful food market but there is a little bit of everything.
Our first visit today is in Beaune. We will visit the well-known wine négociant Joseph Drouhin, which has its cellar in the middle of the oldest part of Beaune. Their beautiful cellars are the oldest in Beaune. Of course, we get to visit these and we end with a delicious tasting of some of Drouhin’s many wines.
The bus then picks us up and we head for the Corton hill. We will have lunch at Domaine Comte Senard in Aloxe-Corton. The estate was founded in 1857 when Jules Senard bought a 2 hectare vineyard called Clos des Meix. The estate now has 9 hectares, many of which are great locations on the Grand Cru Corton hill. Corton Grand Cru, red and white, will also be the theme of our excellent Burgundian lunch. We will compare different locations on the Corton hill.
For our afternoon visit, we head south, towards one of the last villages in the Côte de Beaune, Santenay. We will visit a wine estate here which is actually in a real château, which is quite unusual in Burgundy. The château dates back to the 15th century. The wines are splendid, both the whites and the reds.
Late afternoon we are back in Beaune. Free evening. Maybe it’s time to find those Burgundian specialities that you haven’t tried yet?
Sunday, day 5 — Heading back home
The tour ends after breakfast. Departure.
There may be changes to some details of the programme, e.g. which wineries we visit. We put great effort into making your visits both exceptional and memorable. For this reason we often visit other than the most obvious, big-name producers (where there are often a number of guides employed). Instead we chose to give you a more unique, personal experience at our carefully selected estates, often (but not always) meeting the owner or the winemaker.
Go For It!
We’d love to have you with us.
More travel information
Here are some useful pages and guides about this travel destination:
Even more info
We have written a lot about Burgundy and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.
- Read more about travelling in the Burgundian wine regions on our wine travel blog.
- You can also find more information on BKWine Magazine on the wines from Burgundy, our online wine magazine.
- Our YouTube videos on Burgundy
The Burgundy Wine Book
One of the many internationally award winning wine books we, the BKWine Tours founders, have written is on Burgundy, but unfortunately it is not currently available in English.
As far as we know, no other wine tour operator has a track record of authoring ten or more wine books, so you can feel confident that you will get the most competent and high-quality wine tour with BKWine.
More wine books
We have written more than ten wine books. They have won both national and international wine writing awards.
No other wine tour organiser has a comparable knowledge, competence and experience.
Tour Details — Burgundy Wine Tour
Dates: [this is a sample programme]
Price per person: [this is a sample programme]
Single room supplement: [this is a sample programme]
Sample programme
This is a sample programme, an example. You can find the wine tours currently on the schedule here, or you can explore a custom designed wine tour by contacting us.
ADJUST TOUR DETAILS AS NEEDED, LUNCHES DINNERS ETC ETC ETC
Included in the price:
- 4 nights hotel accommodation, double occupancy, including breakfast in a good quality hotel in Beaune
- Meals as described in the programme above (*):
- 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches including tasting of different wines; at wine estate or local restaurant
- Start and end point: Beaune
- Bus transport during the whole trip
- All vineyard and winery visits
- Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
- Interpretation from French as needed, though some visits may be in English
- Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide
(*) See below for more important information on our meals.
Not included:
- Travel (flights etc) to the destination and back to your home location.
You are responsible for organising your travel to and from Beaune yourself.
If you would like assistance organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.
It is easy to get to Beaune from Paris with the TGV high-speed train from the Gare de Lyon train station. It takes around two hours. There are also some direct trains from the Charles de Gaulle Airport. Other possibilities is to fly in to the Lyons airport or Geneva.
We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time. It is a very interesting place and well worth some regular, non-wine related tourism too. We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights as needed.
For this tour to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered by the “book before” date. Maximum number of tour participants: 10.
Book This Tour
Book before: [this is a sample programme]
Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of [sample programme, this varies by trip]. Full payment should be received at the latest [sample programme, usually one month or 60 days, depending on the trip] before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.
It is important that you read our travel booking terms and conditions.
We also invite you to read more on why you should travel with BKWine, about customer protection, and about what you can expect from our wine tours in the section below “More on our wine tours”.
You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:
- phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
- Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
- email: info@bkwine.com, or use the contact form below
“I want to book this tour” or “I want more info”
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More on our wine tours
Why travel with BKWine?
We are Britt and Per Karlsson. We are specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also experts in wine in general. We are internationally published wine writers and have written ten award-winning wine books.
No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tourism and gourmet travel.
We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours, and this is what we love to do. We take it very seriously – it is not a sideline or a hobby – and what we want more than anything is to share all these wonderful experiences with you.
All our tours are led and managed by guides who have in-depth wine knowledge, and in many cases we lead the tours ourselves.
Read more on why you should choose BKWine for your wine and food tour.
Thousands of happy customers
Over the years, thousands of wine lovers have travelled with us. Many come back to tour again and again with BKWine to new wine regions. Our record-breaking client has been on more than ten BKWine tours. We are happy and proud to have such faithful customers.
Read more on what travellers have said about our tours.
Awards and Mentions
We’re pleased and proud to have received many accolades, including:
- “World’s Top Wine Tours”, Travel+Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
- “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
- “Recommended Wine Tours”, Munskänkarna, the world’s biggest wine appreciation association
- “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year”, Gourmand International awards, and many other book prizes
- Three OIV book awards, International Organisation of Vine and Wine
- “Wine Personality of the Year”, an honour bestowed on Britt Karlsson by Munskänkarna in 2011, the world’s biggest wine appreciation association
- Inclusion on the Wine Media Power List, by Wine Business International magazine
About the wine producers and wineries we visit
Our aim is for you to experience some of the very best and most interesting aspects of the wine world, in terms of wine and food.
We put great effort into creating outstanding winery visits, and in this way we are quite different to many wine tour organisers. It is not always the most renowned, internationally known estates that offer the best experiences. Organising a wine tour featuring famous names of the wine world is relatively easy: it is merely a question of making lists and ticking boxes. On those kind of “bucket list” wine tours, you rarely meet the winemaker or the owner. You will simply be one of thousands of visitors they receive each year.
We do things differently. With BKWine Tours, you will meet the people behind the label, often the winemakers and/or the owners. Thanks to them, you will have a unique, truly personal experience and an insight into the wine world that no one else can offer. When you travel with BKWine, you are more like a special guest than a tourist.
We have personal connections and unparalleled knowledge thanks to more than 20 years as wine journalists, with 10 wine books published, and as wine tour organisers with more than 30 years’ experience. You can be sure of getting the best wine travel experiences with BKWine Tours.
Read more on the wine producers and wineries we visit.
A true gourmet experience: food and gastronomy
For us, wine and food are intimately linked, and this is a fundamental part of our wine travel philosophy. For this reason, a wine tour with BKWine is always an outstanding culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A BKWine tour is a gastronomic voyage that explores the deep relationship between food and wine.
Read more On Meals: Food and Gastronomy on Our Tours.
Customer Protection, Financial Travel Guarantee, and Terms and Conditions
You can always feel safe when you book your tour with BKWine. BKWine has a bonded bank guarantee that gives full protection according to EU and Swedish law. BKWine is a Swedish limited company and as such is regulated by strict rules.
Read more on Customer Protection, Financial Travel Guarantee. and our Terms and Conditions.
When you book a tour it is important that you read the terms and conditions. BKWine’s booking terms and conditions follow the guidelines developed by the Consumer Protection Agency.
Health, vaccination and allergies
Our tours have no particular health requirements although inevitably we will be walking a certain amount in wine cellars and vineyards. Sensible footwear is a must.
Most of our travel destinations have no particular health guidelines or requirements for vaccinations or medical certificates, but if in doubt, you should always consult a medical professional, vaccination centre or relevant embassy in your country of origin.
We can always accommodate food allergies. However, in order for us to manage such requests you must let us know about any allergies before the tour starts.
Read more in our FAQ and in our Terms and Conditions.
Travel insurance
BKWine does not sell travel insurance. If you want travel insurance, check if your regular home insurance policy includes some kind of travel insurance, or contact your regular insurance company or a travel insurance specialist.
Custom Tours
We also offer custom wine and food tours if you want to travel on different dates, or if you want something different to what we currently offer on our scheduled tours. This tailor-made service can be offered for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.
Important information
Our groups are always small. The number of people in the group may vary. The maximum can range from 8 to around 20; check the details in each programme. But our groups are always modest in size. This is important because it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.
Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!
You are expected to organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours, but once you are at the location, we take care of everything.
For more inspiration
Read our wine travel blog. For more, read our online wine magazine the BKWine Magazine with articles from all over the wine world.
And also:
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Newsletter on wine
Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month, it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. It will also keep you updated on forthcoming wine and food tours.
