The Côte-d'Or is the quintessential wine-growing department of Burgundy, home to Burgundy’s grands crus — Chambertin, Romanée-Conti, Montrachet, Pommard — whose ‘climats’, individual vineyard plots demarcated since the Middle Ages by Cistercian monks, are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Dijon, its capital, was the residence of the Dukes of Valois who, from Philip the Bold to Charles the Bold, made the Duchy of Burgundy one of the most powerful and refined principalities in Europe.
The Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy, converted into a town hall and a museum of fine arts; the Château de Bussy-Rabutin, where Roger de Rabutin was exiled and where he adorned the walls with satirical portraits of the court of Louis XIV; Châteauneuf-en-Auxois, perched on its promontory overlooking the Burgundy Canal, and Commarin, inhabited continuously since the 15th century by the same family… The Côte-d'Or offers a distillation of Burgundian history amidst landscapes of vineyards and agricultural plains of great beauty.
The Route des Grands Crus, from Dijon to Santenay, is one of France’s most famous tourist routes, dotted with villages whose names resonate like so many legendary bottles in the memories of wine lovers worldwide.