Visiting Burgundy’s famous domaines

Can you visit the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti?

No. The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti offers no visits: its website presents the two families that have owned it since 1869, its history, its nine grands crus and a warning about counterfeit bottles, but no tours, tastings or bookings. What you can visit is the vineyard that gave the estate its name.

La Romanée-Conti is a grand cru of about 1.8 hectares on the slope above Vosne-Romanée, owned entirely by the estate, which made about 6,100 bottles a year from it on average between 2017 and 2021, according to the Burgundy wine board. The local tourist office notes that visitors passing through the Côte de Nuits always stop to see it, recognisable by its plaque and its stone cross. From the lane you also look across Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Richebourg, two more grands crus where the estate has vines.

A stop of 15 to 30 minutes is enough. The vines are private and fragile: stay on the lane, never step between the rows and never pick grapes. The lanes are narrow, so being dropped off by a driver is easier than looking for somewhere to park.

Which other famous estates do not receive the public?

Several of the most sought-after names say plainly that they have little or no time for visitors, usually for the same reason: a small team busy in the vineyards. Others simply offer no visits on their websites. The table sums up what each estate's own site said when we checked on 1 October 2026.

Domaine Armand Rousseau in Gevrey-Chambertin and Domaine Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet, two more names that collectors ask about, offer no visits on their websites either. Their vineyards, like all the grands crus, can still be seen from public roads and lanes.

What does “trade only” mean, and can a visit be arranged for you?

It means that visits are kept for people who buy and sell the wine: importers, distributors, wine merchants and sommeliers. Maison Louis Latour's contact page, for example, offers a visit request form marked trade only and asks American trade visitors to go through their distributor, and Domaine Méo-Camuzet also points visitors to their distributor.

If you work in wine, your importer is the right door. If you do not, tell us which estates you would like to see when you book: we request the visits at no extra charge and, when a house receives only the trade, suggest good alternatives. Tastings are paid directly to each house.

Which famous houses receive you by appointment, and how far ahead should you book?

Several great names welcome private visitors when you book, often online. There is no single rule for how far ahead, but weekends fill first: Maison Patriarche Père et Fils warns that its weekend and public holiday slots are usually full, and Domaine Chanson asks for 15 days' notice for its private visits with a meal, for 6 to 20 people. For small family domaines, write well ahead, and earlier still between May and October.

• Maison Joseph Drouhin, Beaune: cellar tours and tastings every day, by appointment, from its Oenothèque.
• Domaine Chanson, Beaune: a guided visit of the Bastion with six wines lasts 1 hour 30 and costs €40; the cellar door opens Monday to Saturday.
• Faiveley, Nuits-Saint-Georges: tours and tastings are booked online, in English or French, and all the proceeds go to two charities, the Château du Clos de Vougeot and the Musée Rodin.
• Château de Pommard: open every day, but every experience is by reservation only.
• On the weekend of the Vente des Vins des Hospices de Beaune, 13 to 15 November 2026, several houses sell special tastings to book in advance, and the town is full.

Which wine houses around Beaune open every day?

These houses open every day for most of the year, which makes them the easiest places to taste on a Sunday or at short notice. Prices are those published for 2026; the Château du Clos de Vougeot, also open every day, is described in the next section.

Can you visit the Clos de Vougeot?

Yes. The Château du Clos de Vougeot is open every day: from 9.30 to 18.00 between April and October and from 10.00 to 17.00 between November and March, with the ticket office closing half an hour earlier. Guided tours start at 10.30 and 14.30 in French and at 11.30 and 15.30 in English; they cost €15 per person in 2026, by reservation, with an hour of commentary.

The château stands in the middle of a walled grand cru of 50.59 hectares, founded around 1110 by the monks of Cîteaux and shared today among many owners; since 1944 the château itself has belonged to the Société civile des Amis du Château. Inside you see the monks' vat house with its four giant presses, the great cellar built above ground and the Renaissance manor added in 1551, and the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin holds its gatherings here.

To taste as well, the Cœur de Climats Experience, €45 from Tuesday to Sunday and by reservation only, ends with three wines selected by the Tastevinage, 5 cl each, served with gougères. The Château de la Tour, the largest owner inside the walls with 5.5 hectares, is the only estate whose wine is harvested, made, aged and bottled within the Clos; contact it directly about tastings.

What can you see from the road?

A great deal, because the most famous vineyards lie along public roads and lanes. They are private, working farmland: stay on the tracks, take nothing from the vines and give way to tractors.

• Vosne-Romanée: the plaque and stone cross of La Romanée-Conti, with Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Richebourg beside it, and in the village the Château de Vosne-Romanée, home of the Liger-Belair family, on the Rue du Château.
• Vougeot: the walls of the Clos de Vougeot, the Cistercian château in the middle and the Château de la Tour a few hundred metres away.
• Gevrey-Chambertin: Chambertin and its neighbouring grands crus lie along the Route des Grands Crus, the wine road of about 60 kilometres between Dijon and Santenay.
• Aloxe-Corton: the Château Corton Grancey of Louis Latour, seen from the rue des Corton.
• Beaune: the great towers of the Château de Beaune, where Bouchard Père & Fils keeps its cellars, seen from the walk along the ramparts.

How do you plan a day around the grand names with a driver?

Mix what you can see with what you can book. A full day of 8 hours, €560 per car for up to four guests, can start on the Route des Grands Crus at Gevrey-Chambertin, reach the Clos de Vougeot for a morning guided tour, stop at the Romanée-Conti cross in Vosne-Romanée and end with a booked tasting at a house in Beaune. With less time, a half day of 4 hours, €290 per car for up to four guests, covers the Clos de Vougeot and Vosne-Romanée.

We request the visits when you book, your cases ride in the boot, and your driver speaks English, French, Chinese and Arabic. Tastings are paid directly to each house.