Route des Grands Crus Cycling

How to Complete

6 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. ⛰️ 1

   Claim Your E-Bike at the Gateway to 25 Grand Crus

   adventure $$

   📍 WHERE: Burgundy Bike agency in Brochon, a hamlet just north of Gevrey-Chambertin on the Route des Grands Crus (tel: +33 6 38 16 50 33, burgundybike.com). Or Bourgogne Evasion with agencies in both Dijon and Nuits-Saint-Georges — allowing you to ride the route one-way and drop the bike at the far end.

   💡 WHAT: You're about to pedal through the densest concentration of Grand Cru vineyards on the planet. All of Burgundy's Grand Crus total just 550 hectares — 2% of the region's vineyards — and 24 of the 33 are packed into this 60km corridor you're about to ride through. The 10km stretch between Gevrey-Chambertin and Vosne-Romanée alone contains 25 Grand Crus. Wine lovers have called this road 'the Champs-Élysées of Burgundy.'

   🎯 HOW: Book an e-bike at least 2–3 days in advance (required by CCT Bike Rental; strongly recommended everywhere). E-bikes are not a luxury here — the Golden Slopes have a constant gentle gradient that compounds over 60km. Saddle up in Gevrey-Chambertin and ride south. The route is well-signposted with grape-cluster markers. Carry a small backpack for wine purchases.

   🔄 BACKUP: Bourgogne Evasion has a Nuits-Saint-Georges branch if Brochon is full. VéloVitamine also runs guided wine cycling tours specific to the Côte de Nuits Grand Cru route if you want a guide who knows which cellar doors to knock on.

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2. 📜 2

   Find the Cross Where a Peasant Named Bertin Started It All

   history Free

   📍 WHERE: At the top of the grand cru vineyard lane just off the D122 in Gevrey-Chambertin, where the Chambertin and Clos de Bèze vineyards meet. The stone marker and old cross stand at the edge of both plots.

   💡 WHAT: Here's the story nobody puts in the guidebooks. The monks of the Abbaye de Bèze planted this hillside in the 7th century. Then, sometime in the 12th century, a peasant named Bertin decided he'd copy them on the adjacent empty plot. He called it 'Champ de Bertin' — Bertin's Field. That peasant's name is now on the greatest wine Napoleon Bonaparte ever drank. Napoleon was so addicted to Chambertin that his wine merchant Soupé et Pierrugues had a formal contract with the Emperor: a personal supply of Chambertin — in bottles embossed with his 'N' — guaranteed available at every military campaign. Waterloo to come, the wine was still in the wagon.

   🎯 HOW: Park your bike and walk into the vineyard lane — it's public access along the stone wall. Look for the 'Chambertin' and 'Clos de Bèze' vineyard signs on the stone pillars. The UNESCO 'Climat' markers identify each named plot. Stand at the wall and look east across both plots: you're looking at what Napoleon could never leave behind.

   🔄 BACKUP: If you can't find the stone markers, the Gevrey-Chambertin tourist office (on the main street) has a free vineyard map that marks every Grand Cru plot. They speak English and will point you straight to it.

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3. 📜 3

   Walk Into a Cellar That's Been Running for 900 Years

   history $

   📍 WHERE: Château du Clos de Vougeot, Rue de la Montagne, 21640 Vougeot — roughly the midpoint of your ride. You'll see the château walls from the road; the vineyard surrounds the château on all sides.

   💡 WHAT: In 1109, Cistercian monks from the Abbey of Cîteaux started assembling this plot, one donated strip at a time. By 1336, they'd walled the entire 50.6 hectares — the largest single Grand Cru vineyard in the Côte de Nuits — and built the press house that still stands inside. These monks invented the walled vineyard (clos) as a concept, understanding that the wall itself protected the terroir. In 1551, the 48th Abbot of Cîteaux added a Renaissance château to the press house. The French Revolution took it all from the church in 1791. And today: whenever a French military regiment marches past these walls, the commanding officer still gives the order to salute.

   🎯 HOW: Self-guided visit is €12/adult (children 8–16: €5). English guided tours at 11:30am and 3:30pm for €15, bookable at closdevougeot.fr. Walk through the original 12th-century press house, past the four enormous wooden wine presses used by monks for 600 years, down into the vaulted cellar. Then emerge into the courtyard and look up at the Renaissance façade rising above the Grand Cru vines.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the château is closed for a Chevaliers du Tastevin chapter dinner (they meet 17 times per year — 500 members fill the hall), you can walk the perimeter wall for free and see the vineyard from outside. The wall is worth seeing regardless.

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4. 🍷 4

   Make a Pilgrimage to the $558,000 Vineyard in Vosne-Romanée

   wine Free

   📍 WHERE: Vosne-Romanée village, then up the vineyard lane toward the Romanée-Conti plot. GPS: 47.1570, 4.9500. Leave your bike at the village square and walk up — it's a 5-minute climb on foot.

   💡 WHAT: 1.8 hectares. That's the entire Romanée-Conti vineyard — barely the size of 2.5 football pitches. It produces about 5,400 bottles a year. One bottle of the 1945 vintage sold for $558,000 at Sotheby's in October 2018 — the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold (only 600 bottles existed from that harvest). Current vintages fetch $25,000 per bottle. The vineyard has been on this exact hillside since the Abbey of Saint Vivant acquired it in 1232.

   🎯 HOW: Walk up the lane past the estate buildings of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC), which you cannot enter — it receives almost no visitors. At the top of the lane, find the low stone wall with the stone cross and 'Romanée-Conti' marker. This is where every wine pilgrim stops. DRC has posted a notice asking people not to step inside the vineyard — you can get as close as the wall. Look north up the slope and south toward Vosne-Romanée village. The view is unremarkable. The meaning is everything.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the lane feels private, the path along the entire Vosne-Romanée Grand Cru hillside is publicly accessible — the 'Way of the Monks' trail runs between Curtil-Vergy and Vosne-Romanée through Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Romanée-Conti. Follow the UNESCO Climat signs.

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5. 🍷 5

   Taste the Wine Village That Sacrificed Its Own Glory

   wine $

   📍 WHERE: Caveau Moillard, Nuits-Saint-Georges — the southern anchor of the Côte de Nuits Grand Cru corridor, open daily 10am–6pm. Contact: caveau.nuits@moillard.fr / +33 3 80 62 42 20.

   💡 WHAT: Nuits-Saint-Georges is the village that NAMED the entire Côte de Nuits — and yet has zero Grand Cru vineyards. Here's why: in 1936, when France was setting up the AOC classification system, Nuits-Saint-Georges deliberately chose not to put any of their plots forward for Grand Cru consideration. They stepped aside so that smaller, struggling villages — Chambolle, Morey, Gevrey — could benefit from the prestige of the new Grand Cru designation. The village essentially gave away its own glory. What it kept: 41 Premier Cru vineyards, several of which (Les St-Georges, Les Cailles, Les Pruliers) critics routinely call 'Grand Cru in everything but name.'

   🎯 HOW: The Caveau Moillard tour is free — a walk through a 19th-century vaulted cellar where Côte de Nuits wines are still vinified. The guided tasting of 1–2 wines is €8/person. Book in advance if you want the guided tasting; walk-in tours of the cellar are generally available. Ask to taste from the Les St-Georges Premier Cru: this is the wine that gave Nuits-Saint-Georges its suffix name in 1892.

   🔄 BACKUP: If Moillard is full, Maison Faiveley and several independent domaines have tasting rooms open in the village. The Nuits-Saint-Georges tourist office on the main street keeps a current list of walk-in-friendly cellars.

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6. 🍷 6

   Drink Chambolle-Musigny Among the Vines That Made It

   Optional

   wine $$

   📍 WHERE: Chambolle-Musigny village, roughly the northern midpoint of the Grand Cru section of your ride. Several domaines offer tastings by appointment; the village church square is the gathering point.

   💡 WHAT: Between the power of Gevrey-Chambertin to the north and the sacred gravity of Vosne-Romanée to the south, Chambolle-Musigny exists as something else entirely — the most 'feminine' wine of the Côte de Nuits. The thin limestone soils here produce almost no loam, which gives the wine its extraordinary silkiness. Two Grand Crus: Musigny (10.86 ha) and Bonnes-Mares. Here's the insider detail: Musigny also produces a tiny amount of white wine from Chardonnay — almost unique in the entire Côte de Nuits, where Pinot Noir dominates. If you ever encounter a white Musigny, the bottle costs upwards of €1,500.

   🎯 HOW: Stop at a domaine cellar in the village — Domaine Georges Roumier or Domaine Ghislaine Barthod are among the most respected (book weeks in advance). For walk-in access, ask at the village square — several smaller producers keep a sign out. Order the village-level Chambolle-Musigny (~€35–50/bottle at cellar) alongside a Premier Cru if available. Sit on the stone steps of the church and drink it. Then look up at the Musigny vineyard on the slope above.

   🔄 BACKUP: If no cellar is open, the UNESCO Climat trail through Chambolle-Musigny is a free walk through the village and up into the Grand Cru vineyards — with information panels identifying each plot. The vineyard walk takes about 30 minutes.

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