It can be argued that no country in the world offers more opportunities for wine tourism than France. Indeed, with more than 300 Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée(AOC) designations stretching across its beautiful and varied terrain, choosing a destination can be daunting for the amateur wine traveler.
Relax. Throw a dart anywhere on the French map and likely you will land on a place to drink delicious wine. Even if you don’t stray beyond Paris, you will never be more than a short walk from a wine shop, a wine bar, or a bistro offering a glass of very good house wine for the price of your last latte in the States.
But what if you want to see vineyards, meet some winemakers, and maybe open one of those bottles the French like to keep for themselves? Setting off to the wineries on your own could prove disappointing, especially if your French language skills are pas très bien. As few wineries staff tasting rooms for visitors, calling ahead for an appointment is usually necessary.
An easy option is to book a wine tour. Companies large and small offer guided excursions departing from nearly every touristed village or city near a wine region. Expect to pay about 65Euro per person for a half-day tour and 125Euro for a full-day, including lunch.
Or you could book a room at a vineyard. That plan worked out exceptionally well for our recent family sojourn, and as we found out, it needn’t bust the budget.
My husband and I took our daughter to France to celebrate her 21st birthday. During our two weeks trekking from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, just north of the Pyrenees, we enjoyed wine at every lunch and dinner, and we began the most memorable days with unparalleled hospitality and marvelous petit dejeuner at vineyard bed-and-breakfasts.
In the Languedoc-Rousillon, about a half-hour drive from the beautiful small city of Narbonne, the Domaine la Tour la Pagèze offers charming guest rooms in a large stone house overlooking vineyards that stretch to the Mediterranean. We may have chosen this accommodation for the stunning views, but we will return for the owners’ generosity of spirit that infuses every element of the domaine, including the wine.
The view from the balcony at La tour la pagèze, rosé in hand, of course.
Claudine and Miguel Modestin own the winery with Claudine’s brother, Jean-Marie, who can be found at the off-site boutique in the nearby village of Saint-Pierre-La-Mer. As with many houses in France, wine is a family tradition spanning generations, but their story is special. Claudine told us her grandparents and parents worked in the vineyards as laborers all their lives. She and her brother grew up with deep respect for the care of grapes and with the dream of one day owning a winery. Finally, in 2002, they had saved enough to purchase the Domaine.
“My dreams came true!” Claudine told us.
The fabulous Claudine and her most excellent breakfast table.
We relaxed each evening on the balcony with a bottle, first the chardonnay, then the rosé, and finally a blended red. Bliss, indeed. And each night’s tariff was approximately that of a half-day wine tour for one. If my dreams come true, I’ll be back again and again.
Near the Atlantic coast, we experienced exceptional hospitality while discovering a taste new to us and another story of a French wine family. At the Domaine de Paguy, the energetic and affable Myriam Darzacq welcomed us to the ancient manor nestled in the vineyards of Armagnac, the Gascony region that birthed the real Comte d’Artagnan fictionalized in Alexandre Dumas’ classic “The Three Musketeers” and sequels. Her family has owned the estate since 1933, and with her mother, she manages the estate’s bed-and-breakfast, boutique, small aviary, vineyards and production.
Vineyards at Domaine de Paguy.
In addition to the armagnac that gives the region its fame, the estate bottles the seductive aperitif, floc de gascogne, a blend of armagnac and fresh grape juice. One taste and our well-laid plans to travel lightly with only carry-ons had to be scrapped as we could not go home without a few bottles of the flowers of gascony, as the spirit’s name translates from the local Occitan language. Incidentally, we had the best meal of the trip in the lovely nearby village of Saint Justin at Le Cadet de Gascogne, with local wines perfectly complementing the outstanding and bargain-priced seasonal cuisine.
Various websites and tourism portals can aid in finding the right vineyard stay. We used gites-de-france.com, which has hundreds of holiday rentals ranging from campsites to villas and gives the ability to search by theme, in our case oenology. And, as with most travel sites on the internet, listings typically come with detailed descriptions, photos and user reviews.
If you go, it may be worthwhile to bring a wine suitcase. I think we will next time.
