I will be travelling to France in July. I will be staying in Menton for 10 days would love to visit some wineries in the area, if there is any.

Does anyone know of any wineries within a 100k of Menton? If so, PLEASE let me know, I will be forever grateful.

thanks.

That's a long way to travel just to visit a winery. Don't know if you have ever visited a winery in France, but they are not as tourist oriented and "accommodating" as wineries in the US (I live close to the Napa/Sonoma winegrowing regions).

Bandol has several wineries you can tour. You can go to the tourist office & inquire, but remember, wineries (like almost every other "shop" in France) close for lunch. If you get to Bandol at 11:00, find directions to Tempier or Pibernan from the tourist office, arrive at the winery at 12, you might get there just as they close for a 2 hr lunch.

We enjoyed a tour & tasting at Pibernon (also one of our favorite reds & roses) 04 94 90 12 73 The Chateau is in a nice setting also. We did not find the town of Bandol interesting at all.

There are some wineries around St Tropez. We've stopped at a few. No tour & as I recall no tasting at the ones we visited (Ch Minuty). This is rose country, so if you don't like rose, I would continue on to Bandol where they make excellent reds.

Stu Dudley

Don't forget that Menton is very close to the Italian border. The southern Piemonte region is reachable from there, and wineries abound. Italians are super hospitable, and love it when you take an interest in thier traditions.

Hi Tbb,

>Does anyone know of any wineries within a 100k of Menton? <

A 200 km RT just to see a winery?

Do you want to see viniculture or do you want to taste wine?

If the latter, go to a few wine bars.

Here are two. We just saw a TV program on the first one.

Château de Bellet
Ghislain de Charnacé, Château de Bellet
440 rte de Saquier
06200 Nice
Tel: (33) 493 37 81 57; Fax: (33) 493 37 93 83

Les Coteaux de Bellet
SCEA Les Coteaux de Bellet
325 chemin de Saquier, Saint-Roman-de-Bellet
06200 Nice
Tel: (33) 493 85 13 92; Fax: (33) 493 18 10 99
Tasting by rendez-vous

Thanks so much for your reply re: the wineries in Nice. I will definitely check it out!!!!

As for the other two posts about me travelling a long way to taste wine, well, its obvious you don't appreciate the same things I do. Which is great, which is what makes the world go around. enjoy!

I have been to Napa as well....and Italy and Ontario. I would have to say that for wine tasting, Italy comes first in hospitality then Ontario and then Napa. They weren't all that hospitible in Napa compared to the other two places I've been.

And I forgot to say that every time we go to Nice we drink Bellet and love it. A really nice walk is the sentier littoral (oceanfront path) that goes from Menton to Roquebrune which where we stop anyway. There is a great restaurant right in the sand on the beach where we stop and have lunch before taking the train back to Nice. We went through Monaco only once and all that pavement just depressed us. They barely have any beaches left.

>> its obvious you don't appreciate the same things I do.<,

Do you know that for a fact?

I have hundreds of bottles of wine in my cellar, have a bottle of wine every night for dinner, know several top winemakers & grapegrowers and sometimes get "special" wine from them. I've probably visited 70% of the wineries in the Napa Valley that offer tours/tastings & 60% in Sonoma.

Ira writes a wine column for his local newspaper, and is a wine enthusiast - just like me.

I've also spent over 25 weeks in the Cote d'Azur/Provence area. On our earlier trips, we visited several wineries. About 80% of the wineries we've visited don't offer much more than just a tasting in their "bland" winetasting room. Ch Pibernon was one of the ones close to Nice that did offer a nice tour & tasting - but it's about 2 hrs away from Nice.

Don't jump to conclusions !!!

Stu Dudley

thanks for your resume stu, but it doesn't impress me. if it was so, then i would think that questioning about travelling up to a 100k to taste some wine wouldn't have even been an issue for you.

Its alright Stu, no worries. Like i said, we are all different, enjoy different things. thats what makes the world go round.

Beaubeep's suggested itinerary sounds great to me, as in another forum some else has confirmed that the Cap d'Ail back to Monaco section is a good walk, all of which suggests that it is a good coastal walk for about 6 miles back to Menton from the west after taking the train first.