The Best of France Wine Travel

Check out our top France wine travel ideas to get you started with your wine holiday. Our favorite times of year are spring and fall for wine travel. Connect with us for a customized wine travel program

1.  Discover Reims and Epernay in the Champagne region where you will discover the secrets of Champagne as you visit, tour and taste your way through the region. Select your favorite Champagne house or let us select a mix of well known and small producers. Champagne is a great location for a long weekend or when combined with another nearby region. It is possible to do Champagne from Paris as a day trip, but we advise to stay and enjoy the bubbly.
2. For wine lovers Bordeaux is a must destination. Vineyards abound with exclusive visits to the areas grand chateaux or even a unique producer that will share their passion for their wine. If wine weren’t enough, try some of the new Bordeaux restaurants with fine cuisine like Gordon Ramsay’s Le Pressoir d’Argent at Le Grand Hotel  Bordeaux or Le Chapon Fin with food that is paired with exceptional wines.
3. Beaune will delight you with an amazing array of Burgundy wine makers and experiences to choose from. Learn about he importance of the climat in Burgunday and discover a long history of winemaking in the region. You won’t want to miss is a tasting and tour at Maison Joseph Drouhin. Here you can visit the 13th century cellars that were once part of the original cellars of the Duke of Burgundy or visit Pommard with a tour of their cellars an a private tasting.
4. Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the largest appellation in the Rhône and offers you a unique opportunity to understand what is special about the wines from the area. Learn about the stones that were once left by glaciers. These stones are called galets and are a significant factor in the growing of the vines and in the end some fantastic wines.
5. Tain l’Hermitage is the home of two incredible Cotes-du-Rhone wines, Hermitagesand Crozes-Hermitages. Top producer, Michel Chapoutier offers you a peek into his wines, but don’t stop at just wine while in Tain l’Hermitage since you also must stop at the Valrhona chocolate factory and shop to try this chocolate that is known around the world for its taste and quality.
6. Picpoul de Pinet appellation comes from the less known region, the Languedoc-Roussillon. This area makes our list because of the many young and exciting winemakers who are hand-crafting expressive wines that are still relatively undiscovered. Expand your knowledge of French wine and some of the wonderful appellations in this region. Picpoul de Pinet is situated between Pezenas, and old Roman town and the seasside city of Sete. The terrain lends itself to some amazing crisp white wines.
7. Southwest Basque wines offer differences from other regions. The expressiveness of the wines and differences in the wine are due to the land and climate in southwest France. There is a unique opportunity to visit a winery that is fermenting some of its wines underwater at a coastal winery. The region is most know for wine produced in the Irouléguy that are mostly reds with lots of flower and fruit notes, while whites from the area are earthy and fresh. Red or white wines aside, the wines are worth the visit and you might even enjoy a taste of the Basque culture and food with your wine exploration.