We finally made it to the north of Burgundy. I’d promised myself this for some time (Auxerre has long appealed) and… Vanya? Well, Vanya was heard to remark only last week that she has “always enjoyed drinking champagne in Champagne and that it could prove equally pleasant to drink chablis in Chablis”. I’ll not argue with that logic especially since Auxerre and Chablis are both in the Yonne Department of Bourgogne-Franche-Comte and only 15 miles apart.
The drive across from the Aube to Yonne was enjoyable and one to be repeated except; next time, we will overnight at two of the places we drove through – the village of Les Riceys (to sample some of the area’s famous ‘Rose des Riceys Champagne’, so beloved by the French King Louis XIV) and the Yonne town of Tonnere (birthplace of the Chevalier d’Eon; site of La Fosse Dionne and; very close to where Chaource Cheese is made). But that is for a future tour.
For the present, Vanya had found us a tiny, very welcoming campsite (Camping Les Coullemieres) on the outskirts of the small agricultural village of Vermenton; which is in easy reach of both Auxerre (15 miles to the north) and Chablis (13 miles to the north east). We expected a very quiet evening in Vermenton. It was, after all, a Sunday and (no offence) but, nothing ever seems to happen in France on a Sunday evening. We were in for a pleasant surprise.
I was returning from a quick exploration of the town and noticed that the Cafe de la Gare (down by the railway station) was serving drinks. It wasn’t long before Vanya and I, together with our two dogs (Nala and Beanie), were seated outside the front of the bar with a most friendly crowd of locals knocking back wine after wine. To give you some idea, two of the locals insisted on taking turns to give Nala gentle back massages and one of them insisted on buying us a drink as he left to go home. I should mention also that early during the evening, the landlady of the Cafe de la Gare introduced us to Chintry (red and white) which, she claimed, is a local wine considered every bit as good as Chablis. We stayed with the Chintry (which everyone was drinking) but resolved to put her claim to the test at the earliest opportunity.


The villages of Chablis and Chitry are situated just a little to the east of Auxerre and within 7 miles of each other. That settled it; after visiting Auxerre the next day, we headed east to compare the Chablis and Chitry wines. Initially we had it in mind to progress our comparison with one of the major wine producers in the area (at Les Caves Bailly Lapierre) but changed our minds at the last moment and found a smaller family run business (Domaine Elodie Chalmeau) which produces the Chablis and the Chitry (together with Aligote and Cremant de Bourgogne but that’s another story). After the tasting Vanya and I were agreed that the only difference between Chablis and Chintry is the price (not that there is much in it) and both were very enjoyable. When asked what the difference is between the two wines, one of the owners of Domaine Elodie Chalmeau (Christine) told us that grapes grown to the north of the D62 (which road passes through the centre of Chitry) are used to make Chablis while those produced south of the D62 are used to make Chitry and that most locals drink the Chitry. Funny how some people swear there’s a difference. For the record, we bought 3 bottles each of Chablis, Chitry and Cremant (but only Vanya is allowed the Cremant – she claims it is the best she’s ever tasted and the Aligote was too dry for me).










Wonderful wines! Next I’ll talk a little about Auxerre…