We will be in Provence in early Oct. and would like to hire a guide for wineries particularly Chateau Pape du Neuf(sp?)
Any recommendations?

We just got back from Chateauneuf du Papes two weeks ago and I would say that unless you've never been to a vineyard, you don't really need to go. We went to a fabulous one in Montalcino, Italy a few years ago, learned how they made the wine, and were able to have great tastings at the winery itself. Seems that France is very different and that while the tour of the winery would be quite informative, you can only taste the wines from that particular vineyard there.

I would suggest doing what we did: rent a car and drive to Chateauneuf (within a half hour of Avignon) and have lunch just on the outskirts of town at Verger du Papes (fab food, gorgeous view of the surrounding countryside, amazing wine), then walk down a few steps to the Cave they have there. There are many Caves in town where you can taste various regional wines (for free), but the one associated with the restaurant seems to be the biggest and the best (Caves du Verger? Not sure of the name). We had an amazing tasting with someone very knowledgeable and learned about local wineries we'd never heard of. Our favorite wines are from CDP, but we steered clear of the ones we could easily get back in NYC (Nerthe, Brunier, Beaucastel, etc.) and bought a bunch of others to be shipped back to us at home. With the problems of trying to get wine onboard a flight these days, it was such a relief to know they'd ship it.

It's quite possible you could hire a guide, but I'd really reconsider and do it the way we did - everything was amazing!

P.S. And make sure you stop off at the chocolatier Bernard Castelain on the way out of town - not only is the chocolate out of this world, but the facility itself is amazing to experience.

Best,

Annie

bookmarking

You can also lunch at the Beautiful Chateau de Fines Roches right in the Vineyard.

Hi Apoolshark,
Check out my post on the same subject.. there is a link to a company called wine safari. I had already made progress on my search when that was posted. I am currently in contact with a guy who may be able to help also, we are just trying to firm up on dates etc.. so if you don't have any luck with wine safari, let me know.

Thanks

Cailin