Some of the world’s premier white wines are made within just a few hours’ journey from each other. Near Paris, an hour and a half east, we have Champagne with its stylish sparkling wines. The southern border of Champagne almost touches the border to Chablis, where they make some of the world’s most elegant chardonnay wines, with style and class. A little further south we reach the heart of Burgundy, the Côte d’Or.
Côte d’Or is of course not entirely dedicated to white wines. But it is the white Burgundies that many wine producers in other parts of the world strive to imitate when they want to make high-quality Chardonnay. Here we also find some of the world’s finest wines from pinot noir.
In these wine regions, maybe more than anywhere else, it may be worth noting that it is actually quite easy to find the best or at least the most sought-after wines. Just look at the price tag and celebrity aura around the name, and you know that you found a big name. This is not rocket science. It’s as easy as knowing that a bag from Louis Vuitton or a watch stamped Rolex is good. But expensive. It is about as difficult (and as interesting?) lining up all Burgundy grand cru. You don’t need much expertise, knowledge or experience to do it. But is it this that is most exciting? ”Rolex”?
However, if you want to find the same quality for less money (and less glitz) and also a much more personal experience, then you need to know more, you need to know about what wine producers you should go look for. Find the right doors on the narrow streets of the French villages.
It is this type of producers that we focus on, on the Three Classics tour to Champagne, Chablis, Burgundy. Yes, there will be some famous names but it will focus more on the smaller producers with equal or greater talent, and where most of the time we meet the owner or the winemaker, not just an employed marketing assistant. (No shadow to fall on market assistants! I would very much like to have one myself. But they can rarely talk with the same passion and the same knowledge as the owners about the wines.)
Below you can read some comments from travellers on what they thought about the wine tour to the three classic French regions Champagne, Chablis and Burgundy.
On the wine tour Three Classics, Champagne, Chablis, Burgundy:
Thank you very much for a few of fantastic “wine days” with you as our guides in the heart of France’s white wine regions. In a nice and inspiring way, we learned from your great knowledge of wine and wines, from the agrarian part, not least the significance of geography, to the production and craft to make the different wines, and finally to hear your personal characterisations of the wines.
The vineyards you chose were represented by inspiring and enthusiastic winemakers who, in a proud (with good reason) and loving fashion, described their activities often in both historical and contemporary perspective. The subsequent tasting and descriptions of the products crowned the visits, and the champagne lunch was for me the journey’s unforgettable highlight, in tough competition with the dinner at the l’Hostellerie des Clos, where I had what I think is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten, “morilles fraïches farcies de foie gras dans leur jus à l’échallote“.
Once again thanks for a top-class experience in every respect.
— Johan
On the wine tour Three Classics, Champagne, Chablis, Burgundy:
Many thanks for the “three classic” tour, a journey that was a thoroughly well-planned from start to end, very enjoyable and rewarding and just about a perfect mix of all elements that should be included in a wine tour. Our expectations were high, and you managed to surpass them. Plenty of “inside information” directly from the owners and no corner-cutting when you took us to a meal. Our meals were completely and thoroughly star-class dining! The morels stuffed with goose foie gras at Hostellerie des Clos in Chablis were better than those at La Dama in Barcelona, which is also the Michelin star restaurant. And Monsieur Brocard walking around filling up our glasses from his Chablis Magnum was a nice bonus.
— Solveig & Göran S
Here you can read even more reviews about what our travellers think about our wine tours.
If you are interested in discovering the three classic French wine regions of Champagne, Chablis and Burgundy, the wine regions, the exciting wines, the amazingly good food, then you should come on a wine tour Three Classics: Champagne, Chablis, Burgundy with us at BKWine!
If you want to know more about the region, and maybe get more inspiration, you can read more about these exciting wine regions in some of our books – but only if you read Swedish, at least until we find an English language publisher:
- In the book Champagne, the wine and the growers you can learn everything about the sparkling wine.
- In our book Burgundy, the wines, the districts, the producers there is a lot of information about these beautiful wine regions.
- And if you want an overview of all French wines, then read the book France the country of wine, trends and tradition.
