grape escapes - the bordeaux wine tour specialist
GRAPE ESCAPES – FLEXIBLE WINE TASTING TOURS
Wine Tasting Tours, Holidays and Trips
Grape Escapes is a specialist European wine tour operator, offering a broad range of wine tasting tours and trips to the vineyards in the main French wine regions: Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, The Rhône and The Loire and selected regions in Spain and Italy.
For our customers who are not able to travel at weekends when our Premium tours take place, we have introduced Flexible tours in Champagne, Burgundy, the Southern Rhône and Bordeaux. These tours generally offer a far wider range of available dates than our Premium tours with trips offered throughout the year and with departures on mid week and weekend days.
In general, we work with a carefully selected local partner for some or all of the tour elements. This will usually mean that the parts of the tour that are transported may well have a central departure point (as opposed to our Premium tours, where all guests are met at and returned to their hotels). In addition, seasoned Grape Escapes clients may find that the number of wines tasted at each winery / Champagne House with our partner agencies will often be less than the extensive tastings / best wines that are included on all of our Premium tours.
In Burgundy, you could choose to stay in the impressive town of Beaune or the historic city of Dijon. If you chose to stay in one of the three hotels in Beaune for example, your Standard Flexible tour could start on your day of arrival, with an early-evening tutored tasting session of three wines from good estates in a traditional Burgundian bar. Your knowledgeable host would talk you through tastings of three varied Burgundy wines and the wine would be accompanied by a selection of cheeses and meats.
On day two, you could meet your English-speaking guide in the morning, who would accompany you on a 2 ½ hour tour of the region in an air-conditioned off-road vehicle. During this tour, you would be introduced to the origin of the great Chardonnay wines from the famous vineyards of Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet. In addition, the Pinot Noir grape from Pommard, Volnay and Santenay would be seen. Your guide would reveal to you the secrets of Burgundy wine whilst you enjoy a glass of wine in the heart of the vineyards. The tour would conclude with a visit to a nearby Domaine, where the owner would take you on a full tour of the estate and explain his wines as you taste them.
In the evening, a gourmet four course dinner would be served in a premium local restaurant. The meal would be accompanied by three different local wines, water and coffee.
In the afternoon of day two or the morning of day three, you could enjoy a second half-day tour departing from central Beaune. On this tour, you would discover the region where Pinot Noir reigns, driving through the famous vineyards of Nuits Saint-Georges, Vosne-Romanée, Vougeot, Chambolle-Musigny, Morey-Saint-Denis and Gevrey-Chambertin. After enjoying a glass of wine in the heart of the vineyards, the tour would conclude with a visit to a nearby estate, where you would enjoy a full tour of the cellars and Domaine and taste a selection of the Château’s wines.
The various elements of these tours do not necessarily need to take place over one day. You can spread your tour out over a few days to give yourself a more relaxed holiday. For guests wishing to stay longer in their chosen region, we are happy to arrange additional nights and to customise the itinerary by adding further visits / tours as required.
We also arrange many private wine tasting tours for individuals, groups and corporate clients. So, if the Flexible tours are not exactly what you are looking for, please give us a ring on 08456 430 860, or email us at info@grapeescapes.net to arrange your perfect Wine Tasting Tour.