3-Day French Food & Wine Road Trip: Beaujolais, Beaune, and Dijon

We planned a quiet France road trip through some of its underrated food regions…

Instead, we ended up at a torch-lit wine parade at midnight.

Most travelers come to France and stick to the same famous cities. We did that, too. But after a while, we started wondering if the real taste of France might actually live outside the capital.

So we rented a car and set off on a 3-day food and wine road trip through two regions most tourists skip: Beaujolais and Burgundy.

Our mission:

• Eat the most iconic local dishes
• Visit historic food and wine towns
• And find out if the best of France is hiding in the villages, not the big cities
  

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Our 3-Day Road Trip Route

• Day 1: Beaujolais Nouveau Festival
  
• Day 2: Beaune food and wine day
  
• Day 3: Dijon markets, mustard, and classic Burgundy dishes
  

Day 1: The Beaujolais Nouveau Festival

Our road trip kicked off in the Beaujolais region for one of the wildest wine traditions in France.

Every year on the third Thursday of November, the very first wine of the new harvest is released at midnight. It’s called Beaujolais Nouveau, and while it’s celebrated across the country, the real action happens in the small towns where it all began.

Instead of quietly opening bottles, the locals:

• Throw street parties
• Set up tasting tents
• Host live bands
• And march through town with flaming torches at midnight

In other words, it’s less “refined wine tasting” and more small-town wine-fueled chaos.

And we were all in.

At the festival, you get a wine glass on a lanyard and a map of tasting tents scattered around the town.

The Midnight Torchlight Parade

The festival officially starts at midnight.

And instead of a countdown in a bar, the entire town gathers for a torch-lit parade through the streets.

Picture this:

• People marching with flaming torches
• Brass bands echoing through narrow streets
• Laser lights and DJs in the squares
• And everyone waiting for the first bottles of the new wine to open

At midnight, locals in cowboy hats literally crack open the new vintage and start pouring it into every glass they can find.

It was chaotic, loud, slightly ridiculous—and one of the most fun wine traditions we’ve ever seen.

Nothing about it felt like the polished, quiet France most people imagine.

And that was exactly the point.

Day 2: Burgundy Villages, Classic Dishes, and Wine Country

After a very late night at the Beaujolais Nouveau festival, we hit the road and headed north into Burgundy.

This region sits in the Valley of Gastronomy, a 385-mile corridor known as the heart of traditional French cuisine. If Paris is the polished face of French food, Burgundy is the deep, slow-cooked soul of it.

Breakfast in a Burgundy Village

Stop: La Maison des Co’pains – Mâcon

After all the wine the night before, we needed something to soak it up. So we did what any sensible person in France would do—head straight to a bakery.

This small local boulangerie had won awards for some of the best pastries in the region, so we ordered a mix of savory and sweet Burgundian classics.

What we tried:

• Gougère – a savory cheese puff made from choux pastry
• Praline brioche made with buckwhea
• Palmier – crispy, buttery sugar pastry
• Apricot pastry (the unexpected favorite)

The gougère was the star of the savory side. It’s like a hollow cream puff, but filled with cheese instead of sugar. Salty, crispy, and chewy all at once—basically the ideal Burgundy snack.

Lunch in Beaune: The Heart of Burgundy

Stop: Restaurant Au Coq Bleu – Beaune

Beaune is the center of Burgundy’s wine culture, surrounded by vineyards in every direction. But before more wine, we needed a proper, traditional meal.

So we went to one of the best restaurants in Burgundy known for iconic Burgundy dishes.

Escargots (Snails)

We started with escargots, cooked the traditional way:

• Drenched in garlic parsley butter
• Served hot in their shells

Surprisingly, they didn’t taste strange at all. The texture was like a chewy mushroom, and the flavor was mostly rich butter and herbs. Much better than expected.

Oeufs en Meurette

Next came eggs in red wine sauce with bacon.

This dish is pure Burgundy:

• Poached eggs
• Deep, rich red wine gravy
• Crispy lardons (thick bacon)

It was salty, savory, and incredibly comforting.

Coq au Vin

The main event was coq au vin, one of the region’s most famous dishes.

It’s rooster slow-cooked in red wine until the meat becomes fall-apart tender. The flavor was somewhere between chicken and duck—rich, slightly gamey, and incredibly cozy.

Wine and food cooked together in the same pot is basically Burgundy’s entire personality.

A Taste of Burgundy’s Famous Liqueur

Stop: Liquoristerie Joannet Jean-Baptiste

Burgundy isn’t just about wine. It’s also the home of crème de cassis, a blackcurrant liqueur you’ll find in cocktails all over the world.

At this small, family-run liquorist, we tasted:

• Peach liqueur
• Raspberry liqueur
• And the famous cassis

The cassis was the standout—deep, fruity, and smooth. We liked it so much we bought a bottle… and hoped it would survive the trip home.

Afternoon Wine Tasting in the Countryside

Stop: Château de Villars-Fontaine – Domaine de Montmain

No Burgundy road trip would be complete without a winery visit.

We stopped at a small estate near a tiny village with barely 100 residents. It felt worlds away from the crowds of Paris.

Burgundy is all about these two grapes:

• Pinot Noir for reds
• Chardonnay for whites

Even for someone who usually prefers white wine, the reds were light, elegant, and easy to drink—very different from heavier styles elsewhere.

Of course, we left with another bottle. Our backpacks were getting heavier, but some souvenirs are worth it.

Day 3: Dijon’s Ingredients, Markets, and the Dish That Defines Burgundy

Today we’re heading to Dijon, aka the mustard one. But this isn’t just a cute medieval city. It’s the commercial hub that helped build Burgundy’s food identity.

Day 3 goal:

• Start with the region’s raw ingredients
• Taste the classics
• End with Burgundy’s final boss dish
  

Breakfast Cheese Tasting

Stop: Fromagerie Gaugry

We started the French way—with cheese from a local producer.

We came here for Époisses, Burgundy’s most iconic cheese. Fromagerie Gaugry is one of the rare places still making it with raw milk, and it’s famous for being… let’s call it pungent.

What makes it unique:

• It isn’t pressed into a firm cheese
• It’s washed repeatedly in local brandy as it ages

So yes. This cheese has been partying its whole life.

First bite? Amazing. Soft, rich, almost innocent.

Second bite? The funk shows up like a jump scare.

Caleb loved it. Taylor… did not.

Dijon Market Crawl

Stop: Halles centrales et marché central – Dijon

If we’re doing Dijon like a local, we’re going to the market.

Dijon’s central market is gorgeous—and it was designed by Gustave Eiffel (yes, the Eiffel Tower guy). Inside, we basically panic-shopped like Americans who don’t know what moderation is.

What we tried:

Jambon persillé
Cold ham set in jelly with parsley. Sounds weird. Tastes shockingly good. Like salty ham with herby freshness and a little jiggle texture.

The fancy ham
Thick cut, expensive, very salty, very Christmas-ham-coded. We still don’t fully understand why it was king ham, but we respect it.

Pâté en croûte (duck + cassis)
Cold meat pâté wrapped in a buttery crust—plus blackcurrant (cassis) bringing the sweet-salty magic. Burgundy really loves cassis and honestly… we get it now.

Almond + cassis tart
Sweet, tart, buttery, and way less sugary than it looks. Cassis again. Cassis train keeps rolling.

Dijon Mustard, the Old-School Way

Stop: La Moutarderie Fallot

You’ve heard of Dijon mustard. But “Dijon” isn’t a protected origin—it’s a recipe style.

What makes it Dijon-style:

• Brown mustard seeds
• White wine or wine vinegar

Fallot is the last family-run mustard mill in Burgundy, and they still use traditional methods like stone grinding, which helps preserve flavor.

Also… they have a mustard bar.

And we learned the hard way that “ooh gingerbread mustard” can go from sweet to full wasabi-face in 0.2 seconds.

Our faces were on fire.

So naturally we bought three jars.

Logic.

Dijon Gingerbread and a Medieval Sweet

Stop: Mulot & Petitjean

Dijon isn’t just mustard. Historically, it was the trade capital of Burgundy—wine, spices, mustard, gingerbread all moved through here.

Mulot & Petitjean is the last traditional gingerbread maker in the city, dating back to the 1700s and still using centuries-old recipes.

We tried a nonnette, a small spiced gingerbread cake traditionally filled with jam.

We got influenced by the salted caramel one.

What it tasted like:

• Spiced, slightly orange-y gingerbread cake
• Crumbly, not cookie-like
• A legit caramel center that makes it dangerously snackable
  

Apero With a Kir Royale

Stop: Caveau de la Chouette

After tasting cassis in basically every form imaginable, it was time to drink it properly.

Kir Royale was invented in Dijon by a priest-turned-mayor to promote local crème de cassis and local wine. Later, champagne got invited to the party.

It’s the perfect French apéro drink:

• bubbly
• fruity
• lightly sweet
• dangerously easy

Dinner and Burgundy’s Final Boss

Stop: Restaurant Chez Léon

We came to Dijon chasing Burgundy from ingredients to the ultimate dish. This is where it all paid off.

We started with little cheese puffs (because France can’t help itself).

Then we did duck breast with orange sauce because… we love it and we have no regrets.

And then: beef bourguignon.

The most iconic Burgundy dish and one of the most iconic in France.

Beef simmered forever in red wine until it turns into the most comforting, rich, cozy bowl of food you can imagine.

It tasted like:

• deep red wine warmth
• slow-cooked tenderness
• peak cold-weather comfort

Everything good about Burgundy in one bowl.

The Road Trip Verdict

After a chaotic Beaujolais wine night and three days tasting Burgundy from start to finish, we honestly believe the real taste of France lives in the villages—far from the glitz of Paris.

And if you want to understand French cuisine even more, you can’t miss the city where it all began.

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