This one is from the old vault , before our arrival permanent in France ! These must be from the 1994-95 vintage lol ! We came with the older brother of my wife and our families to share a gîte in Buxy and explore the lands of the Côte Chalonnaise and beyond, We follow the brother into unknown territory and perhaps it was here that I gather my road warrior mode spirit of life on the roads of France ! I like to use some old personal pictures to bring this memorable trip into my blog and tell you about quant nice wine crazy Buxy ! Hope you enjoy it as I.
The village of Buxy is located in the Saône-et-Loire department 71 of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, It is about 20 km from Chalon-sur-Saône, 53 km from Beaune, and 357 km from Paris. Buxy is a wine-growing village on the Côte Chalonnaise wine appellation, Further well connected as we came by rental car, is 15 km from the A6 motorway exit sortie Chalon-sur-Saône, 6 km from N80 Chalon-Moulins ,18 km from the train line from Paris-Lyon to Marseille-Saint-Charles, and about 20 km from the LGV Sud-Est (TGV) Le Creusot TGV train station.
The village of Buxy is very old , The “y” which also ends many surrounding villages, indicates, according to specialists, that Buxy, located on the territory of the Aedui, was already in Roman times a small trading town. The name Buxy probably comes from the Latin Buxetum, a place planted with boxwood. For at least three centuries Buxy experienced the “Pax Romana”, or the Roman peace, Buxy falls under the dependence of the Counts of Chalon. Cluny Abbey, founded in 909, owns land in Jully les Buxy. The Abbey of La Ferté, founded in 1113, also has land in Neuilly (hamlet of Montagny) and in Buxy itself. In 1166, the abuses of a Count of Chalon led Louis VII to ravage the Chalonnais. The fortifications and the solid church of Buxy date from this period. The Templars settled in the region around 1185 (templar residence of Jully), In 1237, the Chalonnais passed into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy, Hugh IV, by exchange with the principality of Salins, Buxy suffers from the Hundred Years War, and the inhabitants take part in the fighting , the village is therefore the site of a battle between the Burgundian army, based in Chalon-sur-Saône, composed of nobles and mercenaries, mostly Germans, and the royal troops recruited in the Dauphiné, the Rhone Valley and coming from Saint Gengoux-le-Royal. On March 14, 1471, at the Battle of Buxy, thousands of men of war clashed. After an uncertain outcome, the royal troops seem to win, After the death of Charles the Bold in 1477, the duchy fell into the hands of the kings of France first under Louis XI.
Buxy did not stay away from the French revolution: a bourgeois militia was created on July 24, 1789. It became the National Guard and was armed until 1792, training being done on the Champ de Mars, the current Place de Baranges. During the revolutionary period of the National Convention (1792-1795), the town temporarily bears the names of Buxy-le-National and Grand-Buxy. At the end of the First Empire (Napoléon Ier), France was invaded and Buxy mobilized to resist the invasion. The village will be occupied by the Austrians in 1814 and 1815 after Waterloo. Buxy temporarily becomes Buxy-le-Royal from 1816 to 1822, In June 1940, the demarcation line was set up for 3 years at the southern exit of Buxy. The township is dislocated, the smugglers take big risks, the maquis form further south in the Clunysois and the occupants set up a camp for tracking aircraft by radar in Montagny. The liberation takes place without a fight at the same time as Chalon.
Some of the things to see here are the Church of Saint-Germain l’Auxorrois erected from the 12C to 16C , The Châtel de Buxy (or old Buxy) took shape between the 12C and 16C. Surrounded by walls flanked by six towers, it contained about forty houses. There was a Protestant temple, several mills, two oil mills, a laundry, a silkworm factory. Old surrounding towers, including the King’s tower and the Red tower, which houses a cellar and gourmet restaurant. Staircase towers: Perrault tower (1531 ), Perrussot tower (around 1550), Saccazand tower, and a Wine grower’s museum, in a vaulted cellar.
The presence of vineyards in the territory is very old. The only documents in the possession of the village dates back to the end of the first millennium, during the predominance of the abbeys of Cluny and La Ferté, but its appearance seems singularly more distant. At the end of the 19C, beginning of the 20C, the hillsides were exclusively dedicated to vineyards. The relentless damage of diseases, in particular phylloxera, the human hecatomb of the Great War or WWI caused a significant contraction of the vineyard. The Montagny wine appellation has 53 localities (called Climats) classified as Premiers Crus spread over four towns, you will find 13 in Buxy.Other than my gîte own made Rando wine (see post) some of the better known properties I can recommend here are the Château de la Saule, Château de Chamilly , Cave de vignerons de Bissey sous Cruchaud ,and the Cave des vignerons de Buxy.
The Gîte was in wine country on a hill overlooking the vineyards, and it had horses to ride as well and wine made on the spot call Rando which have written on it before in my blog. If you ask me the name of the gîte (rural rental house) forget it, it was my Wife’s older brother who took care of the rental we just share the expenses and do not recall the name now sadly. Nevertheless memories forever !!!
The town of Buxy on its history : https://www.buxy.fr/un-peu-dhistoire
The Buxy tourist office on its heritage: https://www.tourisme-sud-cote-chalonnaise.com/en/le-coeur-medieval-de-buxy.html
There you go folks, glad to revive these wonderful family memories into my blog for memories forever and to share with the world, Buxy was nice homey family and great times by all, Excellent rapport price/quality ratio in the Côte Chalonnaise !! Hope you enjoy the post as I,
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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