Essoyes Wine festival

It was another scorcher of a day, with temperatures touching on 30°c. We were heading into Essoyes for their annual wine festival. It’s always a great little event, normally the third weekend in May, but this year it slipped to the public holiday weekend.

The local marching band was playing a mix of popular songs, including film tracks and musical pieces. Some of the titles on the tip of my tongue, but not quite able to name them. I love a marching band, they are always so joyful, and this one, from Bar-sur-Seine, had players of all ages.

We were focused on tasting white wines, as our cellar was looking a little depleted; or so I was told. We did try a few Chablis to start, but as it’s a region so close to us that we enjoy visiting the cellars of, we were instead tempted by some rather nice Burgundies from a little further south. We also purchased some rather nice Provence wines, which we hadn’t really tried before.

Wine festivals are great places to try something different, and not feel obliged to buy. All you do is purchase a glass for €4, and then taste your way around all the producers. That said, we always seem to find something we want to purchase.

Needing help from one of the porters, we headed back to the car with our purchases.