A 5-star hotel with soul, for lovers of wine, and some of the best eggs I’ve ever eaten.
You might walk past Le Cep without a second glance. The frontage is unprepossessing. The sign is a little faded. The balcony railings have signs of rust. Only the plaque declaring 5* gives you a hint at the luxury that lies within.
This is no modern hotel. There is no grey polished marble or modern lighting. This is an unashamedly traditional hotel. The furnishings and décor in the ground floor public spaces are exactly what you would expect from an old Burgundy house of standing. There are red carpets and polished wooden floors. The drapes are heavy and the fireplaces grand.
This is an independent hotel and I was fortunate to be able to sit down with the owner, Jean-Claude Bernard, who had invited me as his guest. His father bought the hotel in the 1980’s and Jean-Claude has been running it for the past 25 years. Jean-Claude talks about past guests the way you might talk about friends. People return to his hotel year after year, and some even leave their mark as they get rooms named after them. It is clear the feeling is mutual as when he travels he gets invited to dine with people as an honoured guest.
His approach is one of “le partage” or sharing. He loves to share his knowledge of the region, of the burgundy wines, and of the town of Beaune. He is a passionate man.
Jean-Claude has grown the hotel over the years, buying up neighbouring property as it becomes available. This explains the labyrinth nature of the place, and why I got lost a couple of times. As these are all old buildings, you end up with corridors that go up and down steps, and small, secret feeling, courtyards, all with lovely planting. It is not all perfectly kept, however. The fitness room for example has been hidden away at the top of a tower with the cobwebs like a forgotten princess.
Each time Jean Claude makes an acquisition he adds something new to the hotel. A tasting cellar (this is Burgundy after all) a cigar room (with state of the art ventilation) and even a formula 1 simulator.
If reading this makes you think that this is a very masculine hotel, I would say you were right. It is rare to see men travelling together outside of a business context, yet at breakfast there were 2 separate tables of 4 men, all clearly comfortable and having a good time.
Some of the additional space has gone into the spa complex, which is split in two. Neither are a pool and jacuzzi type spa, this is a therapeutic spa meant to improve your well-being.
On one side there is the more classic “Marie de Bourgogne” spa which uses wine therapy for its treatments. The products are made locally from wine and are also used in the rooms (I liked the body lotion made from chardonnay). Various modern treatments have been added such as flotation beds, chromotherapy and even cryotherapy; but all in keeping with a 5* French hotel in wine country, the cryogenic machine is even hidden inside a fake wine barrel.
On the other side the spa is an Ayurveda treatment centre. Ayurveda is a whole body – holistic – system of medicine from India. It works on correcting individual imbalances by removing toxins, impurities and stress and creating harmony and balance.
The hotel has a suite of rooms for this treatment, an on-site doctor, a yoga studio, and even a vegetarian Indian restaurant. This is the part of the hotel that feels very disjointed. Everything else is rooted in Burgundy tradition, with wine being at the heart. But the Ayurveda doesn’t feel at home here. The treatment rooms are nice, but the corridor leading to them feels forgotten. The yoga studio would be very zen if it didn’t have an out of place tech sports machine in the corner.
The vegetarian restaurant, The Lunchbox, is a hot buffet; which wasn’t as hot as I would have liked both in temperature and in spicing. It is served on a metal platter and felt more like cheap street food than a 5* hotel offering (the prices are more in line with the latter however).
As a contrast the other restaurant is top notch. Loiseau des Vignes, is a bistronomic restaurant, that is a restaurant with bistro style food made to gastronomic standards.
Bernard Loiseau was a 3* Michelin chef who died in 2003, but his reputation lives on in his company. The restaurant sits within the wall of Le Cep hotel, and shares its terrace, but is run by the Bernard Loiseau group as a separate entity. Like most restaurants in Burgundy, the bistro boasts an exceptional wine list, but the peculiarity here is the 32 wines they offer by the glass. With such a choice we asked for help from the waitress who managed to match our personal preferences perfectly.
The menu revisits traditional Burgundy recipes. Their award winning oeufs en Meurette is one of the nicest things I have ever eaten. It is on the starter menu, but I think a plate of that with some of their homemade fries might make it onto my “last meal” list. The Paris-Beaune, their take on a Paris-Brest- was equally spectacular. It was the perfect mix of choux pastry to praline mousse that show real patisserie skill.
Leaving the restaurant replete and happy, we appreciated being within the hotel and being able to head straight to our room after dinner.
There are 70 rooms and suites at Le Cep, each one different. Some are chintzy, others far more masculine. Ours was pink art deco inspired. The pink was a bit overwhelming at first but it didn’t take long for it to feel relaxing.
The bathroom was modern with plenty of space, a separate WC and a whirlpool bath with a shower over. I prefer a separate shower rather than an over bath. If I stayed again I would make that a request (some rooms do have walk in showers).
The service at Le Cep cannot be faulted. Everyone remembered my name, and my room number. We had help to and from the car with the luggage (there is valet parking) and everyone had a welcoming smile. They have kept up the 5-star custom of a turn-down service which includes closing the shutters and drawing the curtains.
We were blessed, in this April visit, with mild temperatures and blue skies so breakfast was served outside on the terrace. It was a good breakfast buffet with some nice pastries, beautiful fresh fruit, including French grown strawberries and freshly squeezed orange juice. My favourite was a vegetable savoury pastry with a bit of a kick, an example of what was missing from The Lunchbox menu.
The location of Le Cep hotel could not be better. It is within the inner ring in Beaune, meaning all the bars, restaurants and tasting rooms are easily walkable. Most of the other well-regarded hotels sit outside this boundary.
Beaune is the perfect location for a wine break in France and I will cover the town and surrounding area in my next article.
Le Cep is not just a place to stay. As Jean-Claude Bernard says, all hotels have rooms with beds, that is not how you make a difference. The difference here is that you are made to feel like part of something, almost like a secret club rooted in regional authenticity.
Some hotels give exemplary service; others are in the absolute best location. Rarer are those that have a genuine soul. A hotel that can deliver on all three is something very special. Le Cep has more soul than any other luxury hotel I have stayed in.
***Important disclosure: This is an independent review. My stay at Le Cep was hosted on a complimentary basis. All meals, including dinner at Loiseau des Vignes, were paid for independently.***
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