Eve and Sébastien took over Chemins de Bourgogne, a custom wine tours company in Burgundy, several years ago. Experts in wine and hospitality, they offer travelers the chance to explore Burgundy's vineyards off the beaten track in a four-by-four jeep. As such, their tours can take travelers along vineyard trails that other tours are not able to go to. We tested out their tour ourselves and knew it was an experience we wanted to offer to our travelers! They tell us more in their interview below.
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France Just For You
When did you first become passionate about wine?
Sébastien: When I was 17 years old, I wanted to become a Head Waiter. I was still studying at the catering school and during a training session in a restaurant, the head sommelier approached me with a small glass of red wine:
“Taste this and tell me what you think about it,” he said.
“But I don’t know anything,” I told him.
“So tell me what you feel,” he pressed.
I smelled the wine and instantly the entire room disappeared and the image of a stunning black-haired, brown-skinned, perfumed woman appeared before me. I brought the wine to my lips and, like a kiss, it was warm, spicy, exciting.
The length of the wine made me think I had just kissed a queen.
Then I heard a voice ask me, "What do you think about this wine?”. I couldn’t answer anything other than “This is Cleopatra”. The head sommelier laughed out loud and said, “So here is your Cleopatra, this is Chateau Margaux 1982”.
Since that day, I’ve continued searching for a way to kiss Cleopatra again.
What’s your favorite wine and why?
Eve: Domaine de Villaine, Bouzeron. This wine is elegant and simple, yet still complex. It can be paired with so many things and even drunk on its own. This is also the only village appellation issued from Aligoté compared to all the other Chardonnays.
What was your best and most memorable experience of drinking wine?
Sébastien: It was at the beginning of a 3-month wine trip in central Europe. In Slovenia, I met Mikas Kellar, who’s producing an amber wine that is just divine. The entire visit of this estate and tasting has been engraved in my memory for years.
France has various wine regions. In your view, what makes Burgundy different and special in terms of its landscapes and its wine?
Sébastien: The unique aspect of Burgundy is the variety and the diversity of the small plots of land, called climats, which are split over different producers, and each produce a unique wine. It is such a small wine region, yet it’s hard to appreciate how many nuances there are to Burgundy wines.
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Chemins de Bourgogne
What’s special about the vineyard tours and wine-tasting experiences that travelers can have with Chemins de Bourgogne?
Eve: We took over Chemins de Bourgogne because we wanted to share our passion for wine and our region. We have beautiful scenery to travel through and each season has its colors. Our speciality is to build the perfect tour for you depending on your preferences and what you want to see and learn. Nothing is set in stone, everything is customizable.
What do you enjoy most about leading these tours?
Sebastien: Sharing my passion for this specific area and for wine generally speaking, learning about the taste and preferences of my clients, showing them great viewpoints, and visiting some local wine growers. It’s the perfect combo of all my tastes and passions: geology, history, community, wine, and farming.
Do you have a favorite wine region outside of France?
Sebastien: There are so many places in the world where there is wine production. Some real hidden gems still exist. We hear about Georgia or Oregon, but much less about Slovakia or Slovenia. I specifically like the Vipava Valley in Slovenia, where I think there is a very good mix between old-fashioned local farming and the influence from Italian oenology. Plus, this area has great landscapes.
Do you have any plans for the future that you’d like to share?
Eve: We are really happy that Chemins de Bourgogne has grown so fast in the last two years and that customers are really happy. We also have a hotel in Dijon called the Hôtel du Palais, with a wine cellar offering wine tastings on a daily basis. We will be opening another hotel in Beaune in early 2025 with a lot of surprises around wine.
Many thanks to Eve and Sébastien for answering our questions about Chemins de Bourgogne!
If you're interested in wine-tasting and will be visiting Burgundy, we highly recommend their wine tours and will be happy to include one in any of our Burgundy itineraries.
