Wine Tour to the northern Rhône Valley
September 27 – October 1
EXAMPLE
If
you love the Syrah grape, this is the trip for you! The northern part of the
Rhône Valley is mostly about powerful red wines made from Syrah, spicy and
fruity in character, sometimes overpoweringly intense, sometimes stunningly
elegant and sophisticated (Cote Rôtie, Cornas, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, St
Joseph,...). But we will also get to know the regions delicious, full bodied
whites. The whites are sometimes made from the increasingly popular Viognier
grape - very aromatic with almost exotic aromas (Condrieu, Chateau Grillet, Vin
de Pays de l'Ardèche,...), and in other districts from the "grape couple"
Marsanne and Roussanne (St Péray, Crozes-Hermitage, Hermitage, Saint
Joseph,...). We will explore both the red wines and the white wines on this
trip!
We will visit quality conscious and exciting producers in Côte Rôtie,
Condrieu, Saint-Joseph, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage and Cornas. We will stay
four nights in Tain l’Hermitage, a town situated in the middle of the wine
region, squeezed in between the river Rhône and the steep hill of Hermitage.
It’s a small town, but, together with Tournon on the other side of the river,
there is an amazing number of restaurants to choose from. You will have the
evenings free to explore them.
We
will meet up in Tain during the evening of September 27th. Tain is just 3 ½
hours away by train from Paris and 1 hour from Lyon (where there is an
international airport). On Thursday morning the 28th of September, the bus will
pick us up for our first visits in the vineyards. The tour will end after
breakfast on Sunday 1st of October.
As we will probably arrive in the middle of the harvest, this trip will be
even more exciting!
The Programme
About the wine estates we visit
We
want you to experience the best and the most interesting. We put a lot
of effort into finding really good producers to visit. Often, contrary
to what one might think, the most exciting wine producers are not the
"famous names". The passionately engaging visits happen when you meet
the winemaker or the owner himself (or quite often herself) and his
family, and start discussing and und understanding how things "work".
And maybe even have lunch at the winery (and it is not like in the US
where many wineries have restaurants). That's also why this trip does
not have a large number of visits on the programme. But even so, we
often run short of time, since when you start discussing with the
winemaker, and tasting more and more of his wines, time flies.
The trip is a mixture of small family producers and larger, well known
wine estates - carefully selected to give you the unique wine
experience.
All visits are not finalised at the time of publishing the programme
since we continuously work on improving it. But don't hesitate to
contact us if you have any questions or if you want more details.
A quick look at the preliminary programme:
Wednesday September 27th
Arrival in Tain l’Hermitage
Thursday September 28th - Côte Rôtie/Condrieu/northern Saint Joseph
Preliminary visits:
Domaine François Villard, Condrieu, Côte Rôtie, Saint Joseph
One of the big stars in northern Rhône.
Lunch in a Bistrot and wine bar in Ampuis
Domaine de Bonserine, Côte Rôtie
Powerful
wines from a French/American vineyard.
Guigal, Ampuis, Côte Rôtie
The most famous (and largest) producer of Côte Rôtie. Guigal also makes
splendid wines from the rest of the Rhône Valley.
Friday September 29th - Cornas/southern Saint-Joseph
Domaine Alain Voge, Cornas
The winemaking of this famous producer in Cornas is now in the hands of the
extremely capable Albéric Mazoyer, who used to be technical director at
Chapoutier.
Lunch at a restaurant in one of the villages, or with Alain Voge.
Domaine
Eric et Joël Durand, Châteaubourg
We find these two sympathetic brothers in the very south of Saint-Joseph
and they also have vines in the Cornas appellation nearby.
Saturday September 30th
Domaine Gilles Robin, Crozes-Hermitage
Young and ambitious ”rising star”.
Lunch in a village on our way to the next visit.
Maison Delas Frères
A big and well known ”house” that was bought in 1996 by Champagne Deutz. A
lot of investments have been made since then, considerably improving the
quality.
Sunday October 1st
Departure after breakfast.
Facts
Dates:
September 27th – October 1st
Included in the price:
Getting there: Travel to Tain l’Hermitage at your own expense and leisure,
arriving no later than the evening of 27th of September. Tain is approx. 3 ½
hours away by train from Paris (with one change, in Lyon).
Tour organiser: Britt Karlsson, BKWine
Who is Britt Karlsson, BKWine? - Britt is of Swedish origin and based in
Paris. She has worked in the Wine Trade for 15 years specialising in wine
education, wine journalism and wine tourism. Over this period she has arranged
over 50 wine tours. She has an extensive network of contacts in the wine regions
and an excellent knowledge of recent developments in the Bordeaux region thus
ensuring the quality of this tour.
Small Groups: To maintain a personal welcome and ensure quality all our tours
are limited to a maximum of around 18 participants
BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. Travel guarantee to The
Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”) in
Sweden has been made according to Swedish and EU law.
Important
We always travel in small groups. The maximum number of
participants is approximately 18.
For this trip to take place, a minimum of 10 participants must
be registered by the not-later-than booking date (see above).
You organise your travel independently to the destination but
from there we take care of everything.
For more inspiration
En français
