The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Burgundy finally has a hotel worthy of its wines
The classic French vinicultural region has been lacking in luxury – until now. Mary Lussiana checks out its high-end offerings
Burgundy and I have history. My first time driving around solo, eating in gastronomic restaurants, brought me one Sunday to the table of Jacques Lameloise in Chagny for lunch. He came out to see me, patted me on the back and declared that he would create a special menu for me. First out were the fattest snails I have ever seen. Three of them, sitting pretty on a square of slate, pierced with silver skewers and accompanied by a bottle-green lick of parsley sauce. I understood the gauntlet had been thrown down and I rose to the challenge, fortifying myself with a gulp of Puligny-Montrachet. Before long, Jacques popped back to see how I had done. Finding the slate empty, he turned to the full restaurant and said, arms thrown out. “Who said the English don’t like snails?” The entire restaurant collapsed in laughter.
It is a region I have come to love, visiting often with my husband, who comes from there. Yet despite its fine wines and food, culturally rich towns and charming, mellow-stoned villages, there has never really been much of a choice in where to stay.
Until now. A cluster of high-end hotels is opening this year and next around Beaune, promising to entice wealthy visitors to the area. Given the rising prices of the wines (a bottle of Mersault Charmes-Dessus 1er Cru 2020 from Château de Mersault – which I found did the best tasting in the area – currently costs €109) this seems a prudent direction for Burgundy to go in, though there is sadness among those finding themselves priced out. As a young local man from Domaine Chanzy in Montrachet doing a wine tasting for me said: “I can’t really afford to buy Burgundy wine any more, and yet it is my passion.”
Well timed to keep these extra visitors entertained is a new museum, the Cité Climats & Vins de Bourgogne, which opened three sites recently across Burgundy; in Chablis, Beaune and Mâcon. Designed to explain the region’s wine heritage, it offers a multi-sensory experience. In Beaune, the building’s distinctive spiral structure mimics the way the vines curl around the trellises. You can spend a happy hour or two learning about the complexities of Burgundy wine; from the geological composition of its terroir to identifying on a map from which tiny parcel of land your exquisitely layered favourite is from, to exploring the area’s 33 Grand Crus. Concluding, of course, with a tasting.
Less than 10 miles from Beaune is the French debut of international group COMO Hotels and Resorts, which opened the reimagined Hotel Montrachet, in Puligny-Montrachet, earlier this year. Its honey-hued façade sits on one side of the town square, with two
At the wine museum in Beaune, the spiral structure mimics the way vines curl around trellises other heritage buildings nearby. COMO brought in designer Paola Navone, who also did its Tuscan outpost, COMO Castello del Nero, with a brief to reflect the “esprit du lieu” while creating a more contemporary feel throughout the 30 bedrooms. Colours nod to the surrounding countryside but play second fiddle to the Toile de Jouy fabric used for bedheads and curtains.
Downstairs, the restaurant spills out onto a pretty lavender-filled stone terrace and lawn beyond. Chef Romain Version was there under the previous owners and remains at the helm under COMO, which has set its sights on a Michelin star. A vegetarian menu has been introduced and is proving popular, but for a signature dish, try Version’s pigeon in a crust of cereal.
A very different type of cuisine will be on offer at this autumn’s big opening, the 16-bedroomed Maison 1896. The imposing 19th-century house stands on a street corner in the centre of Beaune, with views onto the colourful, tiled roof of the 15th-century Hospice de Beaune. Realising a dream to own a hotel in his favourite wine region of the world, David Fink of the Mirabel Hotel & Restaurant Group will add Maison 1896 to his stable, partnering with the building’s owners, Drouhin, well-known local winemakers whose cellars are almost adjacent.
Interiors will come courtesy of Fink’s partner, hotelier Janet Elarmo. Debuting in tandem with the hotel will be the Slanted Door, which made a name for itself with chef Charles Phan’s acclaimed Vietnamese cuisine in San Francisco and will have its first international outpost here. Alongside Phan, winemaker Mark Bright of San Francisco’s Saison Hospitality will oversee a stellar selection of wines.
Americans are also behind what will, no doubt, be Burgundy’s opening of 2024, the 37-room Château de la Commaraine in Pommard. The hotel will have two restaurants, an outdoor pool with spa and an onsite winery. Owner Denise Dupré said Burgundy is “a region becoming increasingly popular for tourism and in need of additional high-end accommodation”.
Pommard may be small but it gives its name to five Grand Crus and a chateau, on the other side of the village from the Château de la Commaraine. Also now owned by an American, it too is currently undergoing refurbishment to remerge as a hotel, although details are sparse. And what of this influx of Americans? Julie Leflaive, whose hotel in Puligny-Montrachet is a local landmark, is positive about their arrival. “Tourism is strong in Burgundy at the moment,” she told me. “And we are happy that different, great hotels will open here. The new developments will attract the US market. It shows the ‘art de vivre à la Française’ is still important!”
Existing hotels are also ensuring they remain in the game. Back in the village of Puligny-Montrachet (which, along with Chassagne-Montrachet and Mersault, makes up what some call the Holy Trinity), the Leflaive family, winemakers since 1717, has opened a gastronomic restaurant, Klima, in its eponymous hotel. Order the fillet of beef, with a shallot filled with confit of beef cheeks, a glass of the Pommard Premier Cru and drink to the words of Molière: “If claret is the king of natural wines, Burgundy is the queen.”
Mary Lussiana travelled as a guest of COMO Le Montrachet (0033 3 80 21 30 06; comohotels.com), which offers doubles from £325 B&B