Les Caves Du Palais — Attraction in Beaune

TL;DR: don’t go here if you can help it, the woman selling wine is rude, go straight to the vineyards instead

We went into this place because we had been walking for a while in the heat (and some of the other caves were closed). It did give us refuge from the heat, but when we tried our first wine and went to spit, the woman told us that we shouldn’t spit when wine tasting in France. We were taken aback, as we have done many tastings over many years in France where everyone (including the French winemakers) would spit, but thanked her anyway to be polite. Perhaps it’s a local custom? But we were given the impression that she either doesn’t know very much about wine or she was specifically trying to embarrass us (I would assume because we’re American tourists, but who knows). After all, spitting can actually be important for the tasting.

She also pressured us to buy multiple bottles from the start, and when we said we were unsure she basically scoffed at us. The place itself was fine, and the wine was good, but the woman selling the wine made it our worst experience...

Amateurs et initiés : passez votre chemin, il y a largement assez d’excellents endroits dans le secteur pour perdre votre temps ici.

Nous avons été scandalisés par l’attitude du commercial. Nous sommes deux jeunes, amateurs de vin et initiés et accessoirement dont l’une est la fille de vignerons bordelais.

Quelques pépites du « vendeur » : Bordeaux c’est du vin de table de tous les jours les vins de Bourgogne ce n’est que pour les occasions exceptionnelles le classique « je ne vous mets pas un revolver sur la tempe pour acheter maintenant ».

Le moment était très désagréable, le vendeur puait le cigare qu’il venait d’éteindre et sincèrement nous n’aurions pas acheté de vins ici (je pense que les bouteilles de dégustation étaient ouvertes depuis trop longtemps au demeurant).

Un conseil à la direction : changez de commercial, celui là trouvera mieux sa place à vendre des éplucheurs à légume...

We came back again to this lovely tasting room. We had visited before and remembered how nice and helpful Eva was. There are lots of wines to taste and we bought 3 amazing Gevrey Chambertin wines. Ava is really good at finding the type of wines that you are after. The best tasting room...