The vines were still bare, but spring was on the way. Those famous April showers were watering the early spring flowers, the only splashes of color on that wet spring day. Nevertheless, rain or shine, the word “Vougeot” conjures up so much of the magic of Burgundy and its wines, that I had to complete the eponymous hike: Autour du Clos de Vougeot.
Trail Name: Autour du Clos Vougeot
Trail Type: An easy, short circuit trail, mostly hard packed or tarmac surfaces, fairly well maintained, with some signage along the route.
Length:
Total – 8.5 kilometers/ 5.25 miles
Convenient to: Dijon or Beaune, France
Marking: Yellow rectangles/bars, and the occasional named trail sign. See also the featured photo of trail signage above.
Continue reading Autour du Clos de Vougeot: Trail in a Nutshell
Hiking Burgundy’s Cote de Nuits taught me to appreciate the important things in life; and in the Cote de Nuits, life does seem to revolve around wine. Certainly wine is not the most important thing in life here: rather producing the greatest quality wine becomes an all-consuming passion on the part of most families who make a living from these hugely famous but surprisingly small appellations and the wines they produce. And hiking through these vineyards gave me a chance to appreciate that.
The Cote de Nuits vineyards, some of the most famous in the world, begin just yards from trailhead in Chenove, with the Marsannay Village appellation. Shortly after, in the village of Fixey/Fixin, I came to the first Premier Cru vineyard: Les Arvelets. (Fixin is also does homage to another great: Napoleon. Fixin’s Noisot Museum, and associated park, were created by Claude Noisot, a former officer in the Imperial Army who actually accompanied Napoleon into exile at Elba.)
Continue reading Burgundy’s Cote de Nuits: Big Names, Small Vineyards
