May 14, 2024:
Another day, another round of wine tastings and site touring – this time in and south of Beaune, France.
We had another excellent breakfast at our Merceuil accommodation at Le Meix Gautheret. After exploring the grounds (and chasing the never stopping automatic lawnmower), we headed off to Beaune.
Breakfast at our accommodation, Le Meix Gatheret
Le Meix Gautheret – the automatic lawnmower never stopped during our visit!
Our first stop in Beaune was our pre-booked 11:30 am English tour of La Moutarderie Fallot (The Fallot Mustard Factory). Our first challenge was finding parking, as the car park closest to the mustard factory, Parking Bretonniere, was full. We were lucky to find pay parking spots around the corner on the Beaune Ring Road (D470) at Entrée Parking Louis Véry (by Le Bastion de Hospices/Tour des Cordeliers).
La Moutarderie Fallot (The Fallot Mustard Factory) is the last of the independent mustard mills in Burgundy, with most guided tours in French (ours was in English). It has two tours – one with a focus on production (Découvertes tour – this is the one we took) and another that highlights the history of mustard (Sensational Experience).
La Moutarderie Fallot (The Fallot Mustard Factory) – Photo: fallot.com
Tours take about an hour – there is a short film, at the end there is mustard-sampling counter. We booked in advance online, €10 per person. The mustard factory is open daily 9:30 am – 6 pm, appropriately in a yellow building at 31 Rue du Faubourg Bretonnière; +33 3 80 22 10 10; www.fallot.com.
La Moutarderie Fallot
Mustard Making – Mustard Tasting
Mustard Production
After our tour of the La Moutarderie Fallot we did long-overdue laundry at Beaune’s lauderette – Lavarie du Centre, at 63 Rue Lorraine, by the Porte Sainte-Nicolas off the Ring Road (we parked at the free parking lot Parking Jardin anglais), followed by lunch next door to the lauderette at Au Café du Théâtre.
Beaune – Porte St Nicolas
Au Café du Théâtre – Restaurants de France
At 2 pm we headed for another wine tasting around the corner at Patriarche Père et Fils. The Patriarche Père et Fils is located in a former convent, and has the largest wine cellar in all of Europe (we can attest to that, it took forever to get through and out of). They charge €25 per person to see a chapel, the wine cellar, some modern art, a few introductory videos, and taste six wines they produce. Daily entry times 9:30 am – 11:15 am and 2 pm – 5:15 pm, 5 Rue du Collège; +33 3 80 24 53 78; www.patriarche.com.
Mural – Patriarche Père et Fils – Beaune
Vistandines Chapel – Patriarche Père et Fils – Beaune
In the old Visitandines chapel, Jean-Michel Gallette, head of wine tourism at Patriarche Père & Fils, tries to tame Callisto, the recycled metal sculpture by the Bisontine artist Émilie Muzy – Photo: Dijon Beaune Magazine
Wine Cellar – Patriarche Père et Fils – Beaune
Wine Tasting – Patriarche Père et Fils
From Beaune, we now headed south to the village of Puligny-Montrachet to test the “best white wines” in Burgundy, at the Caveau de Puligny-Montrachet – a wine-bar tasting room, with wines from 200 Burgundian vintners: €30/6 wines for one person, €40 for two people (free tastings if you purchase 24 bottles); open daily 9:30 am – 1 pm and 3 pm – 7 pm; the “world’s best whites”; 1 Rue de Poiseul, 21190 Puligny-Montrachet; we parked for free next door on the main square (Place d’Johannisberg); +33 3 80 21 96 78; www.caveau-puligny.com.
Hosts Julien Wallerand & Emilien Masuyer
Photo: Caveau de Puligny-Montrachet
After another day of sites and tastings, we made our way to our accommodation in Merceuil and another excellent meal in Levernois, France, this time at La Garaudière at 10 Grande Rue, 21200 Levernois, with very generous portions of wood-fired meats and other delicious French food.
La Garaudière – huge cuts of wood-fired meats