Discover Dijon’s gastronomic delights on a walking tour
Dijon, a walkable town, is the best place to begin an exploration of the world’s most historic and premium wine region, Burgundy
For Rick Blaine, there will always be Paris. But, but for many others, there is so much to explore in the rest of France. Take Dijon, for instance. The cultural capital of Burgundy is just over two hours from Paris. Especially for food and wine aficionados, Dijon is projected as a “city with wine running through its veins". Where better to begin exploration of what is arguably the world’s most historic and premium wine region – Burgundy?
Dijon itself is small, a walkable town, easy and comfortable to explore. A good way to grasp Dijon’s contribution to gastronomy and culture is with a visit to the all-new Cité de la Gastronomie et du vin (International City of Gastronomy and Wine), located adjacent to the French culinary arts and hospitality management institute, Ferrandi Paris. Built as a hat tip to all things gastronomic in the region, it consists of exhibitions, displays, a food village, an expansive wine shop and tasting room. It offers sessions to understand the complex wines region of Burgundy, tailored for beginners and the more knowledgeable wine lover by the Burgundy School of Wine. For the history seeker, two 15th century chapels are located within the grounds: Chapelle des Climats and Chapelle Sainte-Croix de Jérusalem.
I visited the exhibition on the Art of the Table, which the French have indeed elevated to fine art over the centuries. French gastronomy made it to the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010. The 1,750 sq. foot exhibition is devoted to the concept of bien manger et boire (eating and drinking well). This included table settings, complete with antique crockery and silverware from centuries past to the modern era, a wall of clever food and wine related cartoons and art devoted to gastronomy, multimedia installations including life-size photographs by highly-awarded portrait photographer Denis Rouvre.
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Burgundy dining
As befits a city where food is revered, Dijon has several notable eateries. The Cité itself has a few to choose from. The Cité’s high-end gourmet restaurant, La Table des Climats is the spot to loosen your purse strings and indulge in the ultimate pairings of Grand Cru wines with reimagined classic Burgindian food created by Michelin starred chefs. Too rich for your blood? The more wallet-friendly Le Comptoir serves classics from Burgundy as created by three-star Michelin chef Eric Pras.
The quaint French food ‘village’ located within the courtyard features nine specialty food shops, selling Burgundy mustard, pastries, meats like the regional specialty Morvan ham, and Burgundian cheeses – my favourite creamy, ripe Époisses included. The giant wine Cave de la Cité is built to impress: it is easy to get lost in its library of 3,000 wines covering everything from regional and village level to the super-premium Premier and Grand Crus. Fancy a taste? There are 250 wines by the glass to pick from.
La Fine Heure, a 13-year-old restaurant in the heart of Dijon is where both locals and visitors stop for a taste of the region’s specialities. For the wine curious, it has recently added a 350-label wine shop, which focuses on Burgundy but also carries wine from Beaujolais, the Rhone, Alsace, Jura and the Loire. We stopped there for a wine tasting with the sommelier, Sullivan Ravat, and he explained the intricate geography and its impact on Burgundy wines. “Ninety-nine percent of Burgundy wines are made from a single grape variety," he said, as we tasted our way through a range of wines including the on-the-ascendance Bourgogne Aligoté, the ‘second’ white grape of Burgundy after its emblematic Chardonnay, all accompanied with small gougeres, the airy local cheese-filled pastry.
What makes La Fine Heure unique is that it houses Dijon’s only urban winery, La Cuve en Ville, in the restaurant’s small cellar, a project conceptualised by the restaurant’s owner, Jonathan Mollion who teamed up with Chablis-based winemaker Anais Bouchard to create the tiny winery. Bouchard handles production, with grapes sourced from reputable growers around Burgundy.
The restaurant's menu encompasses traditional favourites such as boeuf Bourguignon, escargot, the creamy poulet Gaston Gerard and the popular oeufs en meurette, eggs cooked in red wine sauce. The emphasis is on local produce and the wine list includes a range of Burgundy wines, from affordable options to top-end labels, along with some from other French regions.
The expansive semi-circular historic central square of Dijon, Place de la Liberation, offers a stunning view of the Grand Palace of the dukes of Burgundy and an open space to breathe in the city’s soul, sip wine at open-air cafés or enjoy a meal. I did just that. Cave Vaubon is a brand-new wine cave or shop strategically located in La Place, serving shareable small plates of seasonal local dishes and an extensive wine list. You can schedule a wine tasting with sommelier Evan Point at the cave with its 650 labels.
Also worth a visit is Le Pre au Clerc, a reputed brasserie that celebrates the Bresse-inspired cuisine of three-star Michelin chef Georges Blanc. We sat in the terrasse, people-watching and soaking in the evening breeze, and dined on duck breast in Grand Veneur sauce and the inevitable oeufs en meurettes with a rich Époisses cream, along with a bottle of Saint-Veran, a Burgundian appellation currently producing excellent white Burgundy.
Dijon’s mustard connection
Mustard is no mere condiment in Burgundy, but stems from history where it was considered a symbol of wealth, always on the table during meals at the palace. One of the must-do tourist experiences includes a mustard-making workshop organised by the Dijon tourism board. “Burgundy mustard is made in Burgundy, with Burgundy-grown mustard seeds and Aligoté white wine. We consider it a showcase of Burgundy’s history," explains Julie Mifsud of the Dijon Bourgogne Tourisme et Congrès.
As the summer afternoon waned, I donned an apron with other enthusiasts and pounded my brown mustard seeds from Burgundy with a mortar and pestle – the seeds are from Fallot (Edmond Fallot, the famous family-owned mustard maker, founded in 1840.) “Brown mustard seeds are very hot, unlike the other varieties of mustard seeds," announced my host. Then we added white wine vinegar and kept pounding – eventually we each had our own little cups of mustard – made in Dijon.
Ruma Singh is a Bengaluru-based wine and travel writer. Her Burgundy visit was planned in conjunction with Destination Dijon and Atout France.
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