When Pat and I arranged this couple of weeks tour around the East the aim was to go back to places we used to visit regularly but not for a few years. Based in the Languedoc these days we travel down the centre of France when flitting between there and the UK. It was also a reminder of how we used to spend our summer holidays travelling from one place to another rather than being based in one village. From the Jura it was but a short hop to Beaune and then another, a few days later, to the heart of Beaujolais which was once our preferred region in all of France.

Burgundy is interesting for any wine lover. When I first went forty years ago the wine was expensive but not stratospheric, winemakers drove Peugeots and BMWs rather than Porsches and Ferraris (and, yes, I saw more than a few it isn’t just a cheap shot by me). We once visited a cellar there and were offered Échezeaux, I explained I wouldn’t be able to afford it but our generous host said that one day we might return when we could. Well, I may be better off these days but the price of such wine makes it something I wouldn’t realistically purchase. And yet… There is something about Burgundy. I love red Burgundy, it has a quality which no other wine can produce. Occasionally. I have had too many disappointing wines, okay wines which were fine but lacked the excitement that the best wines offer. Those best wines though just tempt you to try again and again. A half bottle of 2012 Ladoix-Serrigny 1er cru in a Saturday lunchtime Beaune restaurant was a reminder of just how beguiling Pinot Noir can be.

The other fascination is the geography of the vineyards, the subtleties of one parcel against another, next door neighbours but a world apart in esteem and value. Le Montrachet with its Chevalier and Bâtards nearby, Le Charlemagne looking haughtily down at Les Grèves. To wander around some of these and try to spot the nuances of hills facing the sun at different hours is engrossing for the likes of me and the many others who were doing exactly the same thing.

It was alarming though to see the number of distressed vines in those celebrated and pampered vineyards. Great swathes of yellow vines in Le Montrachet for example, lacking iron or magnesium perhaps? (carence).

I wanted to try some of the new wave of producers and enjoyed wines from Chapuis & Chapuis, Dandelion, Le Grappin, AMI and Fiona Leroy. I was also able to buy a few bottles to take back to the UK from the excellent Beaune shop Athenaeum which is worth a visit from any wine enthusiast for its wine related books, equipment and bottles. I hadn’t expected to find natural wines there but they stocked a section from Burgundy and other regions as well as a thorough collection of natural wine related books including Aaron Ayscough’s, ‘The World of Natural Wine’ which I reviewed here. Indeed, I ran into Aaron in Savigny-les-Beaune restaurant Le Soleil, which I would heartily recommend. Unlike the Gevrey Chambertin wine bar with its customer unfriendly host who wasn’t happy to see us even when the bar was empty.

On to Beaujolais. Home of natural wine in many ways with the famous Gang of Four in the Morgon area, Lapierre, Foillard, Thévenet and Breton led by négociant Jules Chavet (we stayed in La Chapelle de Guinchay which now has a street named after Chavet). It was a busy time in the vineyards and I didn’t get organised very well for visits but we were able to hunt down some of my favourite producers’ bottles from some of the cru villages and the excellent Maison de Beaujolais in Belleville.

We had a drive round all of the ten Beaujolais cru villages for the first time in twenty years and it really is a treat to do so. It is lovely countryside with its rolling hills, we easily recalled why this was once our preferred region. Many of the villages have central stores offering wines from their producers at cellar door prices (as did Savigny-les-Beaune to be fair).

One point of interest. With the success of Beaujolais natural producers it was a reality check to see just how few winemakers are actually organic in the region, let alone natural. As I drink mainly natural wines I had assumed that they were much more widespread. There are plenty of young natural producers coming through however, I had good wines from Bonnet-Cotton, Domaine des Grottes as well as the children of that Gang of Fourm Charly Thévenet and Alex Foillard.

Not the best organised visit of producers (I managed to miss one of the local salons by a couple of days too) nevertheless an enjoyable visit to regions producing exciting wines.

Just as I had finished writing this article I was saddened to hear of the death of Julie Balagny who had so quickly made herself a star of the Beaujolais. Thoughts with all her friends and family.