Bonjour Burgundy!

Experience the holiday of a lifetime as you fly over the lush rolling landscape of Burgundy, France in a hot air balloon and land in a château for a taste of exquisite French food and fine Burgundy wine.

As you stand in the basket taking in the scenery of the lush rolling hills of the French countryside, the setting sun on the horizon lighting up the sky in a glowing sea of red and orange, your pilot expertly manoeuvres the hot air balloon to make the softest of landings.

Cap off the day with a lavish dinner at an enchanting medieval château where exquisite French cuisine and the finest French wines await.

This is holidaying in the finest of styles. Jetting off to London or New York or Paris to shop and take in the sights is fun and all, but anyone can do that these days. If you are the jet-setting type, the buzzword today is experiential holidays – for a lot of spare change, a specialty travel agent will customise a luxury holiday experience that you won’t soon forget.

Two Buddy Bombard balloons making a low pass over Château de la Rochepot in Burgundy, France.

For connoisseurs of fine food and fine wine, and romantics at heart, a week-long luxury ballooning holiday in the Burgundy region of France is just what the doctor ordered. It’s seven days of hot air ballooning over medieval castles, châteaus and world-famous vineyards, visiting architectural wonders and underground wine cellars, indulging in French cuisine and sipping French wine.

Your experience starts the moment you step off the plane at Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris. Your driver whisks you off to Hotel Plaza Athenee where you spend the night before embarking on your Burgundy adventure the next day.

In the meantime, there’s plenty to do – especially if you love fashion – because your plush hotel is located on the ultra-chic, Avenue Montaigne where your neighbours include Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Chanel, Valentine, Prada and Salvatore Ferragamo, and luxury jewellers like Bulgari and Henry Winston

At daybreak, you travel to Burgundy and the town of Beaune, about 300-odd kilometres south of Paris. The quaint Hotel Le Cep will be your home for the next five days.

Once home to the powerful Duke of Burgundy, Beaune is now the wine capital of Burgundy (and some say the world), housing more than 100km of tunnels and wine cellars below the streets. Above ground, the pedestrian streets are lined with interesting boutiques, restaurants, cafés.

Lunch will be served at Le Montrachet, one of the area’s most notable restaurants, in the midst of elegant vineyards. This is the start of your culinary and wine adventure where every meal is highlighted by superb food and the best local wines. You will have the opportunity to learn more about Burgundy, its people, food and wine as guests of local nobility, wine cellar masters and other colourful local personalities at their private homes and estates.

Late afternoon, you embark on your first hot air balloon flight. As the balloon skims low over the treetops, you watch the picturesque Burgundy countryside peppered with farms, pastures, vineyards, romantic villages and 14th century castles gently slip by. The flight will take about an hour-and-a-half as you drift downwind past the countryside, finally landing at twilight.

Dinner is a candlelight buffet affair at the 14th century Château Savigny-Les-Beaune in the castle’s candlelit chambers.

On day two, you will explore the remarkable wine cellars of Patriarch in Beaune where nine million bottles of wine are stored. The resident wine expert will take you on a tour of the cellars, and touch on some highlights of wine appreciation including the technique of sniffing, swirling and spitting.

For lunch, you will be the private guests of one of Burgundy’s most famous personalities, the Countess de Loisy. But not before the Countess takes you on a tour of her wine-making estate of Cotes de Nuits and its extraordinary cellar with 3,000 wooden wine barrels.

After lunch, visit the 12th century monastic winery of Clos de Vougeot constructed by Cistercian monks from neighbouring Citeaux with its gigantic two-storey oak grape presses dating from the same period. Today, the winery is home to Burgundy’s prestigious wine society, the Confrerie des Chevalier du Tastevin, who gather here every November at the start of an annual three-day festival, the Les Trois Glorieuses.

Late afternoon, you get on your second hot air balloon flight over the villages and medieval towns of Burgundy before settling down at the end of day for a candlelight buffet in the ancient cellars of Château Philip le Hardi.

Day four starts with a guided visit to the fairytale cliff-top fortress of 14th century Château de la Rochepot and its storybook village. This well-preserved castle is one of the best existing examples of medieval castle design and construction. After exploring the fortress, sit down to a four-course lunch at the Hostellerie de Levernois, a delightful manor house set on the spacious grounds of Château de la Rochepot. This first-class restaurant is run by well-known French chef Jean Crotet.

After lunch, it’s back to Beaune to explore the 15th century Hospice de Beaune, Burgundy’s most important architectural landmark which functioned as a charity hospital until 1979. This 15th century hospital was built for the poor who suffered from famine in the wake of the Hundred Years War and is well-preserved today with its remarkable architecture, superb tapestries, and reconstructed wards and interesting history.

On the last day, we stop at Chateauneuf, a 12th century fortified village whose turreted castle commands one of Burgundy’s most spectacular views. The castle was built in 1132 by Jean de Chaudenay and remained the family’s home for nine generations before the Duke of Burgundy took it over in the mid-13th century. Then, in the late 13th century, the castle was purchased by Charles de Vienne, the Count of Commarin whose family still owns the castle today.

Lunch is at Chez Morillon, one of Beaune’s most celebrated restaurants followed by a tour of the wine museum of Beaune located in the ancient palace of the Duke of Burgundy. Here, you will see winemaking tools and machines, as well as get an idea of the winemaking history of the region.

In the late afternoon, you will board a hot air balloon to take a last look at the delightful Burgundy countryside.

Dinner is a candlelight buffet at the flower-filled orangerie of Château de LaBorde – orange trees are stored here during the winter months – followed by “graduation” ceremonies in front of the fireplace. An apt way to end your Burgundy holiday adventure. W

o HSBC’s latest “Travel” Platinum campaign offers a grand prize for two of a luxury hot air ballooning vacation over the medieval castles and famous vineyards of France, running from May 1 to Aug 31.

All you have to do is spend RM8,000 and above in a week with your HSBC Visa Platinum or Premier MasterCard card to stand a chance to win this luxurious travel experience!

There are also three prizes to be won every week for a 3D/2N retreat for two at The Andaman Langkawi.

For more information, call the HSBC Platinum Customer Service Centre at 1-800- 88-7088 or visit www.hsbc.com.my.

Eat, drink & be merry

Located in the eastern part of central France, Burgundy is an undulating fertile land filled with vineyards, farms, forests and villages.

This region is famous for producing distinctive wines coming from different parts of the region.

Chablis produces steely white wine, Cote de Nuits rich and full-flavoured red wine, Cote de Beaune delicately flavoured reds and whites, Cote Chalonnaise white and full-flavoured reds, Irancy earthy reds, St Bris flinty whites and Pouilly-Fuisse fruity whites.

Much of Burgundy’s success in wine producing comes from the exceptional quality of its three distinct, traditional grapes: Pinot Noir, Camay for the reds and Chardonnay for the whites.

With such fine wine comes great food as well. Burgundy cuisine is considered more traditional French with dishes like coq au vin (chicken cooked in red wine sauce), beef bourguignon (cooked in wine and mushrooms), escargots, jambon persille (parsleyed ham) and pears Belle Dijonnaise.