Burgundy: Chablis, Époisses and the Côte d'Or

Editor's note

The municipal campsite at Ligny-le-Châtel sits on the Serein 9.6 km downstream of Chablis, close enough that the one night here is a short run out to the wine and back. Chablis makes only dry white wines from chardonnay, under three appellations — petit-chablis, chablis with its premiers crus, and chablis grand cru. The seven grands crus, among them Les Clos, Bougros, Blanchots and Grenouilles, all lie in the commune of Chablis on a single south-west-facing slope on the right bank of the Serein. In 867 Charles the Bald gave the monastery and village to the monks of Saint-Martin of Tours, who were fleeing the Normans; the collegiate church of Saint-Martin was built on the site.

Editor's note

Camping Pont du Lac stands at Pont-et-Massène on the Lac de Pont, 14.5 km from Époisses, for one night on the way south. Époisses is a soft cow's-milk cheese with a washed rind, rubbed with marc de Bourgogne as it ripens, and Brillat-Savarin called it the king of cheeses. It had almost disappeared when Robert Berthaut and a few farmers revived it in 1956, and it has held an appellation since 1991. Taste it in the village that gave it its name. There the château of the Guitaut family stands inside two walls and moats, where Madame de Sévigné had her own room; the grounds are open all year and the interior in July and August.

Editor's note

Camping Relais des Hautes-Côtes is at Chambœuf, in the hills behind the Côte, 14.3 km out, and it holds two nights for the city. Dijon has an agri-food tradition of its own — mustard, blackcurrant liqueur, pain d'épices — and the Halles centrales, built between 1873 and 1875 on plans by the city architect F. Gouet, with 4,400 m² of ironwork listed since 1975. Dijon mustard is a method rather than a protected origin: a 1937 decree made the name generic, and about 80 per cent of the seed now comes from Canada. The taste is credited to Jean Naigeon, who in 1856 replaced the vinegar with verjuice, the sour juice of unripe grapes. Pain d'épices can be watched through the workshop window at the Mulot & Petitjean fabrique.

Editor's note

The last two nights are at Premeaux-Prissey, on the Côte de Nuits and 4.1 km from the vineyards. The château of the Clos de Vougeot, built between the 12th and 16th centuries, stands in the middle of the vineyard the Cistercian monks of Cîteaux assembled and walled, and keeps their 15th-century vat-house, shaped like a cloister, with four monumental oak presses; it is the home of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, founded at Nuits-Saint-Georges in 1934. Nuits-Saint-Georges keeps a belfry of 1610 and has held its Hospices wine auction since 1962. Beaune, 15 km on, ends the route with the Hôtel-Dieu founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, the Marché aux Vins in its old church, and the Cité des Climats et Vins de Bourgogne.