Burgundy Wine Tasting Without a Tour: What You Can Do Alone

You can taste Burgundy without booking a tour, and many visitors do part of their trip that way. A cellar in Dijon, the Clos de Vougeot and the Hôtel-Dieu all take you directly. What you cannot easily do alone is walk into a domain and be poured its wine, and that is where a tour earns its fare.

Can you go wine tasting in Burgundy on your own?

Yes, with a plan. Three kinds of visit take you directly: a cellar tasting in town, the two big sights, and the vineyards themselves, which are open land you can walk beside. The fourth kind, a tasting at a working domain, usually needs an appointment.

So the easy day on your own is Dijon or Beaune on foot, a sight and a cellar. The harder day is the villages, where the domains are and where the buses are few. The rest of this guide takes each in turn.

Where can you taste in Dijon without a car?

At La Cave du Palais, in the Hôtel du Palais, five minutes' walk from Place de la République. A host pours six wines over 90 minutes, from the regional appellations up to a Grand Cru, and explains each one. You must be over 18 to taste, and there are eight places at most.

It costs $63 a head and suits an arrival afternoon, before a day in the vines, or a rainy one. It is also the cheapest way to learn the four levels on a label before you pay for a Grand Cru day. See Burgundy wine tours from Dijon for everything else that starts in the city.

Can you visit the Clos de Vougeot by yourself?

Yes. The château opens every day of the year, at rue de la Montagne in Vougeot: 9:30 am to 6 pm from 1 April to 31 October, and 10 am to 5 pm from 1 November to 31 March. The ticket office closes half an hour before.

The guided tour in English runs at 11:30 am and 3:30 pm and costs EUR 15, or EUR 7 for ages 8 to 16 and students, by reservation on +33 3 80 62 86 09. You see the medieval vat-house and presses, the Cistercian cellar and the old kitchens. The château no longer makes wine. It may shorten guided tours in extreme heat.

How do you visit the Hôtel-Dieu?

Buy your ticket on its own booking page, where the current price is shown, and go at your own pace. It opens every day: 9 am to 7:30 pm from 1 April to 15 November, and 9 am to 12:30 pm and 2 to 6:30 pm the rest of the year. The desk closes an hour before.

Keep your train ticket: a TER ticket to Beaune under 48 hours old earns you a reduced entry. Inside, a facsimile of Rogier van der Weyden's Last Judgement, made by the Factum Foundation, now hangs in the chapel of the Salle des Pôvres. A children's audioguide comes in four languages.

What is the Cité des Climats?

The Cité des Climats et vins de Bourgogne tells the story of Burgundy's wine at three sites: Beaune, the largest, then Chablis and Mâcon. Each covers its own part of the region, and each visit ends with a tasting of two glasses. It is the closest thing to a walk-in tasting with an explanation attached. Check its hours and prices before you go.

Can you just walk into a domain?

Do not count on it. The domains on the tours receive visitors by arrangement, and a working winery sets its own hours. If you want a particular domain, write ahead, and expect a date and a time to be agreed.

A cellar may also close for part of the year. The 2CV half day, for example, visits its barrel cellar outside the harvest and fermentation period only. A tour absorbs that change for you; on your own, you find out at the gate.

What about driving between tastings?

This is the real limit. A tasting and a drive do not mix, and on a day of three domains someone in your party stops tasting or spits every glass. That is the one problem every tour solves: nobody in your party drives after the wine.

If you drive yourself, plan fewer stops and more sights: the Clos de Vougeot, a walk among the walls and meurgers, the Hôtel-Dieu. Leave the tasting for the evening in town, where you can walk back to your hotel.

How do the 2CV rentals work?

You rent a classic Citroën 2CV and drive your own route. The picnic rental starts at Jouey, Monday to Friday between 9:30 and 11:30 am, and gives you the car for one to ten hours with a basket of cheeses, charcuterie, bread and salad and a bottle of Chardonnay or rosé. It costs $362 for the car and two people, and fuel is extra.

The second rental starts at Saint-Loup-Géanges, ten minutes from Beaune, or at Place Madeleine in Beaune, for seven to nine hours with up to four aboard: $292 for the car. Delivery to your lodging 5 to 15 km from Beaune costs EUR 80, and fuel is extra here too.

What does a tour still solve?

• The appointments. Two or three domains booked for you, on a day that suits them and you.
• The driving. Nobody in your party is at the wheel after the tastings.
• The explanation. A guide who reads the label with you, from Village to Premier Cru to Grand Cru.
• The villages. A van to Chambolle-Musigny or Meursault without a car or a taxi.
• The count. Eight to fourteen wines in a day, across two or three domains.

How do the costs compare?

Here is what a first day costs, done alone and done with a tour. The sight prices are the sights' own, in euros; the fares are the operators', in dollars.

What should you bring for a day on your own?

Good shoes for the paths between the walls, and a warm layer for any cellar you enter. Carry water and something to eat, because the villages are small and a tasting rarely comes with food. Keep your TER ticket for the Hôtel-Dieu, and note the phone number of any domain you have booked, in case you run late.

If you are driving, agree before you set out who stays sober, and use the spittoon at every tasting. Check the hours of each stop the day before, too: the Hôtel-Dieu closes for lunch from 16 November, and the Clos de Vougeot's ticket office shuts half an hour before its doors.

Who should go it alone, and who should book?

Go alone if you want the sights more than the cellars, if you have a non-drinking driver, or if a single cellar tasting is enough for your day. Book a tour if the domains are why you came, if you want Grand Crus poured by the people who make them, or if nobody in your party wants to drive. For a day that is yours but planned for you, look at Burgundy private tours.

Frequently asked questions

Where these facts come from

Sight hours, prices and dates come from the official pages below. Everything about a tour comes from its own booking page. Check before you travel, because both change.

• Château du Clos de Vougeot: visits
• Hôtel-Dieu, Hospices Civils de Beaune
• Hôtel-Dieu: tickets
• Bourgogne wines (BIVB): the Cité des Climats et vins de Bourgogne
• Destination Dijon: the official tourist office

Tastings and rentals with no guide to follow

Dijon: La Cave du Palais Burgundy Wine Tasting Experience

Ninety minutes in a Dijon cellar under the Hôtel du Palais, with six wines from the regional appellations up to a Grand Cru. Over-18s only, and no car needed.

From $63 per person

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Citroën 2CV Burgundy rental and Gourmet Picnic

A Citroën 2CV you drive yourself from Jouey, with a picnic of cheeses, charcuterie, bread and a bottle of Chardonnay or rosé in the basket. One fare for the car and two people; fuel is extra.

From $362 per group, up to 2

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Rental 2CV in Burgundy - From St Loup Géanges & Beaune

A Citroën 2CV for up to four from Saint-Loup-Géanges or Place Madeleine in Beaune, for seven to nine hours on your own route south of Beaune. Fuel is extra, and so is delivery to your lodging.

From $292 per group, up to 4

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