Oh la la, Burgundy.
Where the wineries look like castles and the castles look like wineries.
Where Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Beaujolais rule.
Where dogs and bikes roam vineyards.
Where winemakers and tour guides speak passionately in charming French-accented English.
Where an elegant river cruise ship glides wine-loving tourists from one incredible vinous experience to another along the Saone River.
I'm speaking of my wife, Kerry, and my recent holiday on AmaWaterways 'Flavours of Burgundy' river cruise on the AmaCello.
The 140-passenger long boat is the ideal way to see and experience the renowned Burgundy wine region of France.
Not only are there wine-paired, regionally inspired meals on board, but every stop along the way from Dijon (yes, that Dijon, famous for mustard) to Lyon (yes, the 'world capital of gastronomy') offers a different wine-soaked activity.
Let's start with our stop in Chalon-sur-Saone, where Kerry and I signed up for the 22-kilometre cycle tour through town, along the abandoned railway that's now the Greenline hiking and biking trail and through Pinot Noir vineyards in Givry.
I'm highlighting the cycling so you don't get the impression that a river cruise through French wine country is all eating and drinking.
Yes, there's lots of delicious food and phenomenal wine, but AmaWaterways also makes sure there's a walking tour and cycling tour in each of the seven ports of call.
It's the perfect way to combine indulging and then working off the calories with an exercise option.
There's even the opportunity, for the ambitious, to cycle from port to port.
For instance, one day, I joined the group biking the 33 kilometres from Chalon to meet the boat in Macon while Kerry stayed aboard the AmaCello to sip Chardonnay while gazing at the Saone views from the Juliet balcony of our stateroom.
Yet, there will be ample choice for wine touring and tasting.
Our guide Jonathan Moreno leads us in a sante! (cheers) at Macon's Chateau de Pierreclos, the 12th century castle that became a winery at the end of the 17th century.
For the sante, we were in the atmospheric cellar of the chateau with Saint Veran 2022 Chardonnay in our glasses.
But, there would also be samples of Macon-Bussieres 2022 Chardonnay, Pouilly-Fuissé 2023 Chardonnay and Bourgogne 2023 Pinot Noir.
This is where I need to tell you that you're unlikely to ever find the names of the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir signature wine and red varietals on the bottles in Burgundy.
The French prefer to label wines according to the region or village the wine was made in and tier of prestige.
For instance, that Macon-Bussieres is made of grapes from the village of Bussieres in the wider region of Macon, the Pouilly-Fuisse is the appellation that covers five villages that include Pouilly and Fuissé and the Bourgogne Pinot can be made of grapes sourced from anywhere in the much wider region of Burgundy.
In addition, 'grand cru' is the highest recognition for wine in Burgundy, 'premier cru' the second most.
Keep all that in mind when I tell you we tasted five wines in the 'cave' at Domaine Armelle et Bernard Rion in the village of Vosne-Romanee with winemaker Melissa Rion.
They were the 2023 Coteaux Bourguignons Magneton (Chardonnay), Monthelie Les Hauts Brins 2023 (Pinot Noir), 2022 Volnay (Pinot Noir), 2021 Nuits-St-Georges Marcel Heritage (Pinot Noir) and 1988 Grand Cru Clos de Vougeot (Pinot Noir).
To confuse you just a little bit more, Beaujolais, which many people consider its own wine region, is actually the southernmost sub-region of Burgundy.
To add to the complexity, red Beaujolais wines are made of Gamay grapes, not Burgundy's signature red Pinot Noir.
Yet, white Beaujolais is Chardonnay, the same as Burgundy's flagship white.
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With that explained, we arrive at Domaine de Fond-Vieille where we're greeted by the winery's dog -- aptly named Mascot -- to taste three 2023 wines.
They are the Beaujolais Blanc, Pink Tower (yes, a Rose made of Gamay grapes) and Beaujolais (no further explanation required, apparently, as it's a red wine made of Gamay grapes from the region).
You won't be able to find any of these particular wines at government or private liquor stores in BC.
But, you can find other Burgundy wines.
So, I hope you feel inspired by this column to pick up a bottle or two and discover the exceptional, traditional wines of Burgundy.
Barrel making in Vignoles
Of course, our barrel fell apart.
As a group of randomly assembled tourists tasked with building an oak wine barrel we tried valiantly, but failed miserably.
It's all part of the Art du Tonneau excursion from the AmaCello near Dijon.
It sounded easy enough.
Two people hold the iron hoop steady while the rest of the group lines up the wooden staves within the hoop to build the barrel.
It's only a matter of time before the iron hoop tilts and the staves scatter and clatter against the concrete floor.
Daniel Wittling -- who's part barrel making expert (cooper), part seminar leader and part comedian -- comes over to help us.
With his guidance -- and truthfully, him doing half the work -- we eventually assemble a wobbly barrel.
Wittling jokes that the barrels poorly made by American tourists get sent to wineries in California.
It's an informative and fun 90-minute workshop that not only attracts river cruise passengers, but 12,000 other tourists a year.
The company that puts on the workshops -- Frederic Gillet Tonnelier -- hand makes 10,000 barrels a year at a separate factory for use by both French wineries and wineries all over the world.
Steve MacNaull is a NowMedia Group reporter, Okanagan wine lover and Canadian Wine Scholar. Reach him at [email protected]. His wine column appears every Friday afternoon in this space.
