01
FR France
Burgundy
A close-grained mosaic of villages, vineyard paths and quietly serious cellars.
- Grows
- Pinot Noir · Chardonnay
- Best window
- May — Jun
- Trip length
- 3–5 days
- Nearest airport
- DLE · 43 min
Travel thoughtfully · drink responsibly · 18+
W White · 4 regions
Chardonnay.
The most travelled white grape in the world, and the one most worth seeing in place — it carries whatever it is grown in rather than insisting on a flavour of its own.
— What changes between them
In Burgundy it is a still wine and the whole point. In Champagne and in Sussex and Kent it is a component in a sparkling blend, grown on chalk in a climate that only just works. In Central Otago it is the quieter half of a Pinot Noir region. Same grape, four entirely different jobs.
The 4 regions
02
FR France
Champagne
Chalk cellars under two working towns, and a landscape that reads far quieter than the drink suggests.
- Grows
- Chardonnay · Pinot Noir · Meunier
- Best window
- Jun — Sep
- Trip length
- 2–4 days
- Nearest airport
- CDG · 109 min
03
GB England
Sussex & Kent
The same chalk as Champagne, an hour from London, and a sparkling industry still young enough to be curious.
- Grows
- Chardonnay · Pinot Noir · Meunier · Bacchus
- Best window
- Jun — Sep
- Trip length
- 2–3 days
- Nearest airport
- LGW · 43 min
04
NZ New Zealand
Central Otago
The world's southernmost commercial wine region: continental, high, and about as far as this gets.
- Grows
- Pinot Noir · Chardonnay · Riesling
- Best window
- Feb — Apr
- Trip length
- 5–7 days
- Nearest airport
- ZQN · 46 min
Travelling for more than one
Several of these sit close enough to combine — see the fourteen-day routes, or put any two side by side with compare.