Meet Our Guides: Charlotte Lavantureux

Discipline and determination: these are the two words that best define Charlotte Lavantureux in her journey from gymnastics to cycling. Now the mother of two young boys, Charlotte brings an incredible balance of tenderness and dedication to everything she does, whether she’s leading bike tours through the Hautes-Côtes of Beaune or helping to manage her family’s internationally celebrated Chablis estate.

Cycling isn’t your first sport. How did you get interested in gymnastics?

When I was six years old, I saw a movie about [Romanian gymnast] Nadia Comaneci and I said to my parents, “that is the person I want to become.” They took me to a local gym, but I said, “No, no, this is not what I want to do. I want to be like Nadia.” I was a very determined little girl. So they found a more professional opportunity. Eventually I was training 15 hours a week after school and competing. I was so happy. Gymnastics was my passion—I didn’t stop until after university.

What led you to becoming a cycling guide?

I knew I wanted to work in tourism when I was 12. My parents took me to New Zealand over Christmas. I left my little part of France—which is gray, foggy, and very cold during winter—and suddenly I could see the colors of the world: another culture, another way of living, of eating, of celebrating. It opened my mind. I returned from the trip eager to learn English. It was a breakthrough in my life.

Because I was an athlete, I told myself during university that I would work in the active travel industry. One of my first jobs was for a German cycling holiday company. This was in 2000, so it was very early in the trend of cycling on holiday. I remember my family and friends saying to me, “Are there really people who pay to ride a bicycle for a week?”

I started out designing tours and later I became a guide. That was when I realized that I wanted to be on the ground with the guests, not behind a computer. I didn’t want to create the holidays, I wanted to be part of them.

In what ways has being a gymnast influenced your approach to cycling?

Gymnastics is a sport of relentless repetition. You need to be driven by the pursuit of perfection and understand that mastery doesn’t come quickly. You must try, fall, and refine the movement over and over until it clicks. You need to know that you won’t get it at first, but if you persist, you will become a master. For me, this is a great metaphor for life. It’s a lesson that I apply to everything I try to do.

As a gymnast, your body is trained to give all its power in short, explosive bursts—one minute, two minutes, three minutes maximum. But cycling is the complete opposite. I had to learn patience and endurance, and that has been very hard work. But gymnastics taught me that if you don’t give up, you will achieve what you want to achieve. I think this attitude helped me to become a strong cyclist.

What brought you to DuVine?

Right before I came to DuVine I was working in an office and commuting up to five hours a day. Even though I was creating cycling tours, I was deeply unhappy. One day I went home and told my husband that I wanted to return to guiding. I knew DuVine was the best and I wanted to be a part of that. There’s just something special about being among the greats!

Then, I discovered that I was pregnant with my second child while training for my first season with DuVine. I rode for as long as I could, but my belly became too big for me to cycle safely. When I shared this with DuVine, there was no judgment at all. I felt so good and so comfortable about coming back the following year.

But then Covid happened…

Then Covid happened. My son was born right before the pandemic and between both big changes, I lost all my physical conditioning. My first season back with DuVine was challenging. I remember my co-guide in Burgundy suggesting—kindly—that it was possible I wasn’t training enough during the winter. The competitive gymnast in me said, “You will see. You will see.”

My good friend, one of the best triathlon coaches in France, designed a training program for me. I never missed one session, but I cried on my stationary bike all winter. Sometimes they were tears of joy, because I was so happy with what I had accomplished, and sometimes because it was hard. But by the beginning of the next season, I had improved enormously.

Your family owns Domaine Roland Lavantureux in Burgundy. What role does the estate play in your life and as a guide?

Wine is the everyday topic at home, whether we’re talking about the team, the season, winemaking, or the business side of things. We cannot even eat peacefully because there will be a truck coming to pick up wine! It is simply who we are. At the estate, I’m mostly involved with receiving visitors and journalists. I’m also in charge of our wine club.

One amazing project was seeing my worlds collide when Andy suggested bottling a Chablis Grand Cru exclusively for DuVine. He came to the estate to taste and select the wine. It was so much fun, and I was so honored to present the wine the following spring to all of my DuVine colleagues from around the world.

I also love sharing the story of wine in Burgundy on my DuVine tours. When our guests have questions, I can go very deep in my answers because I know how it works from the inside. I can help them understand why wine in France—and Burgundy in particular—is so important.

And you do all of this while raising two young boys—what’s that like?

I take inspiration from the women in my family. My grandmother had eight children on a farm and my mother worked as a psychiatric nurse while raising three children. The other DuVine guides who are mothers are also an amazing inspiration. They have a fire inside them and there’s a sense of community among us.

Before I leave for a tour, I prepare for my absence: I fill the fridge with a few meals and make sure that my parents, who stay with the boys, have a clean room for the week. When I’m on tour, I feel lots of different emotions—excitement, happiness, mother guilt. But I know exactly why I am there—I’m not just guiding people; I’m helping them create life memories.

Cycling is good for my mind. When I’m riding my bike, I can escape and clear my head. Every time I have too much on my mind, I go out and ride for a couple of hours. And then I can start all over again.

How does being a mother inform who you are as a guide?

I think motherhood has made me a much better guide. Before I had children, I would sometimes feel the stress of making a decision or finding a solution more acutely. But since I became a mother, I feel much more capable on tour. It’s like when your muscles get stronger and suddenly you can lift a weight that you couldn’t lift before.

There are a lot of parallels between mothering and leading a group. It’s my job to tell guests what to do, what not to do, how best to do things, and how to be safe. But fortunately, you don’t have to ask them ten times to do something!

On the converse, does being a guide inform who you are as a mom?

The boys are already traveling by bike with me. I’ve organized two cycling holidays for our family—the first one was very short—but I could see how proud they were by the end of the trip. I want to plant a seed for my boys to love traveling, to be curious, and to explore the world. It’s so important to feel the landscape, to experience the seasons, to feel the temperature change from the bottom of the hill to the top of the hill. These are all things you can’t feel when you travel by car or bus or train.

Every time I come back from a tour, the boys ask to see photos. They get to see me at work, and they are proud of what I do. The other day they had a cycling activity at school, and they told people that I was a champion. Above all, I want to be an inspiration for them—so they see that I am feeding my soul by being more than just their mother.