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The attractive countryside of the Cote d'Or is characterized by the steep scarp of the cote , wooded along the top and cut by steep little valleys called combes , where local rock climbers hone their skills (footpaths GR7 and GR76 run the whole length of the wine country as far south as Lyon). Spring is a good time to visit this region, when you avoid the crowds and the landscape is a dramatic symphony of browns - trees, earth and vines, along with millions of bone-coloured vine stakes wheeling past as you travel through, like crosses in a vast war cemetery. The villages, strung along the N74 through Beaune and beyond, have names - Gevrey-Chambertin, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanee, Nuits-St-Georges, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault - that all sound like music to the ears of wine buffs and are familiar to even the most casually interested; but they turn out to be sleepy, dull and exceedingly prosperous places, full of houses inhabited by well-heeled vignerons in expensive suits and fat-cat cars. You can make a very good living on a patch of four or five hectares, the average-sized plot, the proof being that none is ever up for sale. There are numerous caves where you can taste (usually for a charge of 30-40F/?4.57-6.10) and buy the local elixir, but remember that the former is meant to be a prelude to the latter. And there's no such thing as a cheap wine here, red or white, 100-120F/?15.24-18.29 being the minimum price you'll pay for a bottle. The Hautes Cotes (Nuits and Beaune) - wines from the top of the slope - are cheaper, but they lack the connoisseur cachet of the big names.
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