Wine Travels - Côte d’Or

The journey from Verona to Beaune is quite extraordinary. Among other things, it offers the magical experience of crossing the mighty Alps and to drive through – literally - the Mont Blanc. The tunnel, carved under the highest mountain in Europe, crosses the border between France and Italy and once on the other side I always scramble to refresh my very rusty French for the obligatory coffee stop in Chamonix. I made it a habit to stop there on the way to Burgundy; on the trip back Courmayeur is my destination of choice for drinks. The two villages sit on opposite sides of the Mont Blanc massif, dwarfed by the immense size of the mountain.

I love to travel to the Côte d’Or in January. The region seems to be kept under a spell of near stillness and this past trip it was no different. A light fog added a layer of mystique while columns of thick smoke rose from the frigid vineyards where the prunings were burnt as the workers moved along the rows of dormant plants. The bare vines looked like gnarly wooden arms protruding from the earth in a surreal atmosphere of silence and peace. During this time of year the narrow country roads are deserted and one can hop from vineyard to vineyard almost unnoticed, which is exactly what I like to do.

Around midday the fog finally lifted and the sun begun to warm my freezing bones. After spending the remainder of the day walking and hiking through a multitude of vineyards, scattered along my favorite villages in the Côte de Nuits, I rewarded myself with a cozy dinner at La Rôtisserie du Chambertin.

There I had Poulet de Bresse with morels, paired with an impeccable bottle of JF Mugnier Chambolle Musigny which provided an utterly delightful meal. It was followed by a brisk walk through the medieval village of Gevrey where not a single soul was to be found. It was around ten in the evening when the fog started to roll in once again. Aside from a random dog bark in the distance, all I could hear were my own footsteps, echoing in the eerie evening mist.

The next morning I woke up to find the Côte tightly wrapped in an even thicker blanket of fog. I started the day in Beaune with the intent to visit more vineyards, from Volnay to Puligny this time, but I soon realized that Mother Nature had other plans for the day as the stubborn haze seemed to have no intention of leaving. With visibility down to zero I reluctantly decided to shorten my stay and head back. To my great disappointment, just a mile east of Meursault, a blistering sun was shining so brightly that I had to put on my sunglasses. At least the unplanned, early departure granted me the unexpected pleasure to see a glorious sunset over the Mont Blanc, which was quite spectacular.

Stefano Zanoncello