Beaune in France

Beaune could very well be another name for wine. Located right in the heart of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or vineyards, this old medieval town lives and breathes for the ‘draught of vintage tasting of Flora and the country green’. Wine may very well be flowing through the veins of its cobblestoned streets and maturing beneath its old tiled roof houses. One is not, in fact, very far from the truth because the old city does sport a subterranean maze of wine cellars that goes back to the medieval era! It is hardly surprising that Beaune is one of the best places in the country for wine tasting tours. This beautiful city’s second claim to fame is the medieval Hôtel-Dieu or Hospices de Beaune, a former charitable hospital. At present the building functions as a charming museum. The city has managed to blend its two loves into a popular tradition: its annual wine auction is held in the grounds of the former hospital.