The Wine Connect
2018 Tour de Burgundy.
10 June – 16 June, 2018
Join winemaker Ian Leamon on a tour of Burgundy
where you will visit some of the region’s most prestigious houses and gain a
greater understanding of the complexities of the Burgundy region.
Enjoy seven fabulous days in Dijon and Beaune and
Puligny-Montrachet when we visit William Fevres,
Louis Jadot, Bouchard
Pere et Fils, Joseph Drouhin, Olivier Leflaive and J M Pillot and dine out at
some of the best restaurants in Burgundy.
Day 1 Sunday June 10, 2018
Tour
members will make their way to Dijon and proceed to our centrally located hotel.
The
Grand Hotel Le Cloche or equivalent. This will be our hotel for the first
night. The remainder of the day is free to explore Dijon. The tour group will
come together later in the day for welcome drinks in the hotel bar. We will
then have our first group dinner together. *Dinner
and wines are included in the cost of the tour.
Day 2 Monday June 11 William
Fevre, Chablis
After
breakfast we will board the tour bus and drive to the township of Chablis. It
is about a one and a half hour drive to Chablis from Dijon but the drive will
be worth it as we will be visiting, in my mind, the best producer in Chablis. A
tour of the cellars will conclude with a tasting of Premier Cru and Grand Cru
Chablis before we lunch at an adjacent restaurant. After lunch we will drive to Beaune and check
into our hotel.
*Lunch and wines are included in the cost of the tour.
Day 3 Tuesday June 12 Joseph Drouhin and Domaine Michel Gros.
We will take the bus to Maison
Louis Jadot which is located a short distance from our hotel in Beaune. Louis
Jadot is an excellent negociant who makes wine from many of the sub regions
within Burgundy. The tasting here is a particular high light.
In the afternoon we will visit
Domaine Michel Gros. Michel Gros is the sixth generation of his family to be
making wines in Vosne Romanée. The wines from this part of Burgundy are
predominantly Pinot Noir and in my mind this village is home to some of Burgundies
best Pinots including of course Domaine Romanée Conti (DRC).
At the end of our visit to
Domaine Michel Gros, I will take you for a quick walk up to the vineyards of
DRC and then we will have a quick visit to Clos Vougeot before returning to
Beaune.
In the evening we will
dine at Restaurant La Ruchotte. La Ruchotte is a farm restaurant owned and operated
by a husband and wife team. Chef and co-owner, Frederic Meneger, worked in a
number of Michelin restaurants in Paris before deciding to buy a farm and start
his own restaurant in Burgundy.
Dinner and wines are included in
the cost of the tour.
Day 4 Wednesday June 13 Joseph
Drouhin and Domaine JM PIllot.
We
will take the short walk from our hotel to the house of Joseph Drouhin, home of
the fabulous Clos du Mouche Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In the afternoon it is
anticipated that we will visit Domaine JM Pillot. Jean Marc is producing some
of the most wonderful Chardonnays in Chassagne Montrachet. In the evening we
will dine at 21 Boulevarde. *Dinner and wines are included in the cost of
the tour.
Day 5 Thursday June 14 Bouchard Pere et Fils.
Bouchard Pere et Fils is located
in the heart of Beaune just a short walk from our hotel. This famous and
historic house is in fact located within a part of the ramparts of the ancient
walls of Beaune and touring the cellars will take us through part of these old
walls. The tour will conclude with an extensive tasting of Village, 1er Cru and
Grand Cru Burgundies.
The
afternoon is free to explore Beaune and of course the famous Hospice de Beaune.
In the evening we will dine at Ma Cuisine, a local institution. *Dinner
and wines are included in the cost of the tour.
Day 6 Friday
June 15. Olivier
Laflaive.
Today
we are moving camp again, albeit just for one night as all of our final days
activities will take place in the village of Puligny Montrachet so I thought it
would be nice to stay the night in the village.
Today
will be our last day in Burgundy and I wanted to finish off with a house that
produces one of my favourite Mersaults. Olivier Laflaive is located in the
heart of Puligny Montrachet. We will start our visit with a tour of the
vineyards; this will be followed by a tour of the cellars. Finally we will have
lunch in their restaurant. The meal will be matched with tasting samples of six
different red and white burgundies.
After
lunch we simply have to walk across the square to our hotel, Hotel Le
Montrachet. Tonight we will have our farewell dinner in the hotel’s 1Michelin star
restaurant also known as Le Montrachet.
The
Age travel section asked Jacques Reymond where he likes to eat when he returns
to his native Burgundy and his reply was, “I
always dine at Le Montrachet when I visit Beaune” and so it will be for us.
*Dinner is included in the cost of the tour.
Day 7 Saturday June 16
Tour
members will be driven to the Dijon railway station by bus where you can
continue your travels in France or catch a return train to Paris. Or you may
wish to travel to the south of France by rail. Should you wish to continue your
journey from Dijon by means other than train then you will find that many hire
car companies are located at or close to the Dijon railway station.
Tour Guide.
Winemaker Ian Leamon is your tour guide. Ian was
involved in the establishment of his family’s vineyard and winery, Chateau
Leamon in 1972. He then studied winemaking at Charles Sturt University and has
been making wine for more than thirty years.
Ian is a founding partner of Champagne Connection
and Wine Connect and he has travelled extensively throughout the wine regions
of France over the past thirty plus years. Ian first visited Burgundy in 1985
and has returned on a regular basis since that initial visit.
Ian also imports champagne to Australia and he visits
Champagne on an annual basis. Ian has twice worked vintage in Champagne, in 1985
for Veuve Clicquot in the village of Bouzy and in 2007 with the Loriot family
at Champagne Joseph Loriot-Pagel in the village of Festigny.
Ian is an experienced tour director, having
conducted tours to Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy since 2010. Altogether Ian has visited France on an annual
basis since 2000 and has built up an excellent understanding of the Burgundy region.
Meals.
The
tour offers breakfast on a daily basis plus one other meal, either lunch or
dinner each day. Rarely do we offer a third meal on the same day. We do this
for two reasons.
- Group meals tend to be large
meals and if we had two such meals in one day then people start to feel
weighed down by their food and wine.
- Sometimes tour members like
to take the opportunity to have a free evening on their own and choose
their own restaurants.
Tour Accommodation
We
have selected four and five star hotels for the tour. All hotels have clean and
modern facilities and breakfast is provided at each hotel on the tour.
Included in the tour
price;
- Tour leadership.
- Accommodation in four star
hotels including breakfast each day.
- One lunch and five dinners
including our farewell celebration dinner at Le Montrachet. All dinners
include premium quality wines carefully selected by Ian Leamon.
- Entrance and tasting fees at
all wineries visited.
- Bus transport within Burgundy
Not included in the
tour price.
- Airfares
- Airport Transfers.
- Passport and visa fees.
- Travel insurance.
- International airport and
general travel taxes.
- Sightseeing and general
expenses not specified in the itinerary.
- Lunches and dinners unless
where specified.
- Laundry
- Items of a personal nature
including drinks and snacks consumed from the mini bar in your hotel room.
- Additional travel
arrangements.
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