One of the best-known Burgundy names is Chablis, a sub-region some 100 miles southeast of Paris. Chablis is famed for its minerally whites made from the Chardonnay grape.

Following the main motorway south you reach the Cote d’Or, the heart of the region based around the pretty town of Beaune, with its colourfully tile-roofed Hospice in the centre. This is the region where most of Burgundy’s finest wines originate.

The vineyards follow the low hills south to the Maconnais, an area that produces a large amount of white wine including some good value Chardonnays.

Further on is Beaujolais, with its rolling hills and pretty hill top villages, where the red Gamay variety is grown. There are 10 villages that can use their name on the Beaujolais label, the most famous of which is Fleurie.

Burgundy grows one of the world’s least varied range of grapes due to its variable climate which is generally too cool to ripen most varieties. Almost all the region’s best red and white wines are produced from the hardy Chardonnay and thin skinned Pinot Noir.

Chardonnay is the most widely planted grape, found in most regions around the world, but famed for the white Burgundies of Chablis and the Cote d’Or. In Burgundy, it creates a varied style of wine from the crisp, minerally Chablis to the fuller bodied elegant barrel-aged Mersault.

Aligote is the second white grape variety that creates crisp zingy wines in northern Burgundy.

Pinot Noir can make some of the most complex wines, particularly here in Burgundy on the gentle slopes of the Cote d’Or. Young wines have a lovely raspberry fruit quality, but as they age, they develop leathery, dark fruit flavours.

Gamay creates light and intensely floral wines that are light in tannin with strawberry and cherry fruit.

The Rhone & Loire region has a unique northerly climate that produces fantastic wines that go with just about anything that swims underwater. The longest river in France has vineyards along its entire length, carving its way through the chalky soils that provide perfect natural caves for cellars, and perfect for mushroom production too. I always enjoy visiting this region, even though it is usually in early February when the thought of tasting the new vintage in the cold cellars could be a little off-putting. The area extends from Sancerre in the east, the river flows past Orleans and Angers to the region of Muscadet in the west. Vineyards line its banks and the gentle hills beyond.

Melon de Bourgogne is not well known in its own right, but it’s the grape behind the famous Muscadet, the light, fresh and acidic wine that is perfect with seafood and shellfish.