Vibe and vines

Wine just happens to be grown in the most beautiful places in the world.

“I have noticed that,” said Margaux Laroche with a laugh.

She should know.

She is the seventh-generation owner and winemaker at Le Domaine d’Henri in Chablis, an appellation in France’s stunning and renowned Burgundy wine region.

“I love how we respect the soil and it gives us the beautiful green lines of the vineyards,” added Laroche.

“The grapes and wines they produce are traditional and classical, just like the landscape.”

I’m having this discussion with the winemaker at ChaBio, a wine tasting event that’s part of the every-two-years Grand Jours de Bourgogne.

It’s a massive, multi-day, multi-venue promotion of Burgundy wines to sommeliers, restaurateurs, wine buyers, importers, distributors, retailers and media.

While this story starts as one of wine, it really is a travel story of going to a fabled destination and discovering that what’s in the glass, exploration and discovery are inextricably intertwined.

Idyllic views

My first revelation of this was just an hour earlier when our tour group hiked out to the Vue Les Clos viewpoint.

The village of Chablis and its surrounding vineyards divided by the Serein River are Old World idyllic in the twilight.

By the way, Chablis wines are almost always exclusively made of the Chardonnay grape either with no time in oak barrels or very light oak to preserve freshness, minerality and deliciousness.

There will be more tastings and discussions of the business of wine, but really it’s the joie de vivre of French wine country travel that resonates.

For instance, taking a break from the mass tasting at the conference centre in Beaune, I pedal with Active Tours along the Voie de Vignes.

It’s the 60-kilometre, well-marked and well-maintained bike path through and around the vineyards, wineries and villages of Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits regions.

Active Tours co-owner and guide Guillaume Feltin leads me on a 34-kilometre loop that takes in the stone and church-spire villages of Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet and the wineries of Domaine Bernard Delagrange and Château Famille Picard.

There are ample stops amid Burgundy eye candy for photos, tidbits on what makes the soil, vineyards, wineries and topography so spectacular and, of course, tastings at the wineries.

This is the land of both red and white wines — delicate Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that tend to see a little more oak for lushness and complexity.

Regional specialities

France is not France without pairing the local wines with regional fare.

Thus, roast chicken with a Chardonnay during the cycling lunch break at L’Agastache Restaurant in Volnay; escargot (yes, snails) in gravy with a Crémant de Bourgogne sparkling wine at Le P’tit Paradis in Beaune; and foie gras and sausage atop roasted vegetables with a Pinot match at Le Biz’Tro, also in Beaune.

All in all, this is a double-barrel travel-wine story urging you to visit Burgundy so you can to enjoy both the vibe and the wine.

If you can’t physically get there, buy a Burgundy wine at your local shop and be transported to France via your taste buds

Air Canada is the best way to get to Burgundy. It flies non-stop from both Toronto and Montreal to Paris, which is a two-hour train ride from the town of Beaune in the heart of Burgundy wine country.

Air Canada also flies non-stop Montreal to Lyon, which is an hour-and-a-half train trip from Beaune.

As well, Air Canada flies from Montreal to Nice, Toulouse and Nantes, all of which have surrounding wine regions.

For more information, check out bourgogne-evasion.fr, bourgogne-wines.com and aircanada.com.

smacnaull@nowmediagroup.ca