Driving from the Bourbonnais to the Beaujolais

It took about 2½ hours to drive from Moulins (red symbol on map) in the Bourbonnais over to the Beaujolais wine-production area to the east. For the first 50 miles of the trip, we were on a mostly two-lane road that was clogged with big trucks, so it was pretty slow. There were very few passing lanes.

En plus, there was a traffic jam because of road construction going on around the town of Charolles, where the famous Charolais cattle are raised. There we turned south and drove about 40 miles on narrow, winding roads through hilly, rural countryside. I didn't take any photos until we stopped for lunch.

We arrived in Beaujeu, the historic capital of Beaujolais that gave the historic province its name, at about noon. Our first planned stop was in the nearby Régnié-Durette, which is one of the 10 premium wine villages (les crus) in Beaujolais. The vineyards of Beaujolais cover about 400 mi² of territory (35 miles north-to-south, 12 miles east-to-west), just about an hour north of the major city of Lyon by car.

We had taken a picnic lunch with us, and at Régnié we found a table on the grounds of the church, overlooking the vineyards, which we were interested to compare to the Touraine vineyards that surround our house and hamlet near Saint-Aignan. It was a sunny day but with a chilly breeze. I bought six bottles of 2015 and 2016 cru Régnié wine for 60 euros to take home with us.