Vin en Vacances

I was never a fan of wine tours which is pretty ironic considering what I now do for a living. So what made me change my mind?

Before I worked with wine I had wanted to be that person who discovered a wonderful wine, who met a great wine maker and who went off the beaten track to discover these things. But when you only have a week or less in a wine region it is very likely that you just don’t have enough time to seek these things out.

My team and I have spent years discovering the best wineries to visit, interesting wines, fabulous journeys and great restaurants to make Vin en Vacances the most successful wine tourism business in Languedoc-Roussillon. One of the great things about touring with a wine guide is their insider knowledge, the deep understanding of the local region and of course they do all the driving for you! Arranging a wine tour is now easier than ever before and just about every wine region has a wine tour guide these days but how do you know you’re getting a good one? TripAdvisor is a good guide, we are delighted when people take the trouble to write a review and pass on their experience to others.

Along with private tour companies there are also specialist companies who can organise the tour for you and we work with two such firms in the UK; Grape Escapes and SmoothRed who are both highly experienced. They have sought out top class wine guides in many of the wine regions of Europe and further afield and we are delighted they chose us for the Languedoc-Roussillon region. And if you do want to do it on your own they offer self-drive winery tours but with the route and the wineries all booked in advance for you.

Wine tourism has never been more popular. UK company Jetline Holidays are promoting our ‘Spirit of the Languedoc‘ tour in the print version of The Times and our ‘Harvest Tour’ through the Daily Mail online Travel. Harvest time in France usually begins at the end of August and will stretch through until early October. It’s one of the most exciting times to visit a wine region but also one of the hardest times to get access to winemakers and wineries making it another good reason to choose a wine guide as they usually have easier access as they are known and trusted. I have often been given the keys to the tasting room by a winemaker too busy processing grapes to pour the wines himself. Now that’s something you can’t easily arrange for yourself !