Paulée de la Côte Chalonnaise
Chalon celebrates the end of the harvest with a weekend of tastings, confréries and photography.
- Wine festival
- Chalon-sur-Saône
- 35 min from Beaune
€125one way from Beaune with a private driver
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At a glance
- Entry
- Paid or by invitation
- Organised by
- Ville de Chalon-sur-Saône
- Official website
- paulee-cote-chalonnaise.fr
Getting there
Private driver from Beaune: 35 min by road (35 km), €125 one way for the whole car.
Coming by train or plane? Transfers from stations and airports →
About the event
The Paulée is the Côte Chalonnaise's harvest festival, held in the streets of Chalon each October. Winegrowers from Bouzeron, Rully, Mercurey, Givry and Montagny pour their wines along a tasting trail, the wine confréries parade in full dress, and photography, a nod to Chalon's own Nicéphore Niépce, hangs in the open air.
What to expect
A tasting kit bought on Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville, with a glass and a set of tasting tickets, opens the trail through partner cellars, bars and wine shops. On the Saturday the mutual-aid societies and wine confréries march from the Maison des Vins to the town hall and on to Place Saint-Vincent to lay flowers for the winegrowers' patron saint. Banquets, concerts and street food fill the rest of the weekend.
History
In Burgundy a paulée marks the end of the harvest. The word is said to come from the dialect word paule, a shovel, recalling the last shovelful of grapes tipped into the press. In Chalon the town and the confréries and winegrowers of the Côte Chalonnaise have turned the tradition into a public festival that mixes wine, food and the art of photography.
The 2026 festival is the 27th edition. Each year a photography competition leads up to the weekend, and the selected pictures are shown on the Quai Gambetta.
Good to know
Tips for the day
Walking the streets is free; tastings need the kit, which costs 5 euros in 2026 and is paid by card only, and the banquets are booked separately. The confréries parade on Saturday 17 October from 3.30 pm. Chalon is about half an hour from Beaune, and with a driver waiting at the end of the trail nobody in the party has to drive.
Around here
What to combine with Paulée de la Côte Chalonnaise on the same day, nearest first.
Questions
Paulée de la Côte Chalonnaise 2026 takes place in Chalon-sur-Saône (Old Town of Chalon-sur-Saône): Friday 16 – Sunday 18 October 2026.
Did you know? More than 4,500 visitors bought a tasting kit over the Saturday and Sunday of the 2025 Paulée, a record edition.
Sources
A private driver for the day
No parking to find, no one left as the designated driver: everyone enjoys a glass.