Merely travelling to Beaune is an act of wine pilgrimage. The train from Dijon stops in Gevrey-Chambertin and Nuits-Saint-Georges, and the stroll from the station to the town centre is nothing but temptation, with locals and tourists sipping Crémant de Bourgogne, the regional sparkling wine, in the spring sunshine.

One Thursday recently the town was full of women. They were not here in the middle of the Burgundy wine-growing region merely for a girls' weekend, but as judges in a high-profile wine competition with a twist: at Feminalise, all the tasters are women.