Wine tasting & sightseeing from Cote d'Azur? Tours? Car essential?
 

Hello! I'd really appreciate some advice: my partner and I are planning a short stay in the South of France in mid-September. We only have 4 days, sadly. We have already booked a direct train (unchangeable) from Paris to Antibes (no other stops, so getting off early isn't an option) and a flight out of Nice on the fourth day.
We would like to spend a day or two actually seeing Provence, though, we've realized, especially wine tasting, and we didn't realize it would be somewhat difficult to do this from the Cote d'Azur. We are real rosé lovers, although big reds and even whites are also welcome. We are light drinkers, though, so we would probably only visit about 4 wineries maximum in a day--and that would probably give us the taste we're looking for. Even two or three would be fine. Here is what I'm wondering:

1. Do you think we'll have to rent a car, or are there a few wineries accessible by bus/train on the eastern side of Provence? Can you recommend any decent ones? Or even a good tour operator, if necessary? Would a tour take the fun out of it?

2. Should we just scrap our direct train tickets (cost: 108 euros total) and get new ones, changing our plans entirely and taking the train instead from Paris to Marseille or Toulon, spend a day and night there, and perhaps take a wine tour, and then head out to the Cote d'Azur from there? (the bus and train service to get from Antibes to Marseille or Aix is impossible in terms of the wine tours I've seen--there's a big gap between 10 am and 2pm, and it's a long journey.) We aren't set on a wine tour, but are intimidated by the idea of paying for and dealing with a rental car, getting gas, finding our way around, etc.

3. Would it be worth the expense and trouble of renting a car and changing our plans to get a real taste of the villages and wineries we'd see if we drove from Marseille/Aix/Toulon to the Cote d'Azur? Or are there tasting rooms in cities or towns that we could reach from out east via train or bus that would be a better bet?

i hope my questions aren't all over the place. Basically, I'd love it if you had any info on either the quality of the wineries on the eastern side of Provence, good wine tours leaving from the Cote d'Azur, and/or advice about reaching good wineries or tasting rooms anywhere in this region without a car. Or if you would strongly advise against any of those options, I'd like to know that, too!

Many, many thanks for any help you can give.

<i>Wine tasting & sightseeing from Cote d'Azur? Tours? Car essential?
Posted by: okienzel on Jul 31, 13 at 4:21am
Hello! I'd really appreciate some advice: my partner and I are planning a short stay in the South of France in mid-September.</i>

You're planning to go to the Cote d'Azure post-season &mdash; to taste wine?

Put your train tickets on eBay. Reserve a car in Dijon and take a train there. Mosey around Burgundy with a good guide book for your 4 days. Hire a driver so you can both drink. You don't want a DUI or an accident.

There is no reason you can't enjoy wine from a base in Provence. A quick google shows many day tours focusing on wine tasting. You could do small group or private. Here is just one example from my google.

http://www.localnicetours.com/the-wi...from-nice_5044

I would agree that if wine is your main objective have someone else drive. Around Provence roads can be narrow and twisted.

I dont know if you can get to any vineyards by public transport. I would definitely rent a car. I dont really know any vineyards near Antibes. In St Tropez there is Chateau Minuty, which is pretty good.
Leave very early if you drive from antibes to st tropez, and dont go on tuesday or saturday, when there is a market and even more traffic.

Bandol has good rose. Maybe domaine Ott?

And in Nice there is a great wine shop in Rue Raoul Bosio, in the old town.

Be aware that tasting is NOT drinking. DUI laws are very stringently enforced and the blood alcohol level allowed in lower than in the US. For a small person one glass of wine can put you over.

Unless you are truly going to taste (small taste, spit and rinse) get a driver or a tour.

Thanks, everyone, for the thoughts and the cautions--that is all good to keep in mind. (And the wine shop in Nice is a great recommendation, Tulips, as is Chateau Minuty.)

We're trying to balance the idea of a tour, with its safety and convenience, with what we could see and discover if we went full-on and drove ourselves. The emphasis is not so much on the drinking of wine as it is on the drinking in of the area and what it has to offer, albeit in a short time.

We just didn't plan adequately and mistakenly thought that the Cote d'Azur was more connected to Provence than it is (probably a North American bias).

Does anyone have any more personal recommendations for eastern wineries, tasting rooms, or wine tours? We have access to Google ourselves, but wanted help discerning which is/are the best options. For example, there's a wine tour that always pops up and starts in Nice, but one of its few stops is in Cannes, which is a place we could easily go on our own (and an odd stop for a winery tour).

I'm sorry, Laurie_Ann, I thought you'd misunderstood and had found a tour via Aix or Marseille on Google, which I saw were plentiful--I hadn't found that Nice wine tour you noted. It's quite pricey, but more like what we were looking for; thanks. I just wish I knew whether it'd be worth it. Is seeing the countryside via minibus with other foreigners really that nice? I don't know.
We also saw this:
www.azurwinetours.com
I've sent in an email query but have yet to hear back.
If anyone has tried these tours and can offer feedback, it'd be great. My partner and I are not big tour people, or into the usual touristy stuff, but it's sounding like a tour might be the better option this time out.

The easiest thing is to rent a car and drive yourselves to the vineyards. Provence has great rosé wines as well as red wine. The red wine from this vineyard is very good and Lorgues is easily accessible from Antibes by car along the A8, takes about an hour.

http://www.chateau-les-crostes.eu/index.php/en/vineyard

Also in the same area are the villages of Les Arcs, Vidauban and others who produce alot of rosé wines, right down to St Tropez.

Here is another vineyard in the area, beautiful remote place:-

http://www.saintjuliendaille.com/default.aspx

There are several vineyards in this area and you can drive yourself from one to the other very easily (with GPS preferably).

I don't know Chateau Minuty but it is in the same general area as the ones I suggested so easy to visit in one day.

Mid September is the perfect time to visit, not too hot.

Thanks, Odin (and everyone)!

I really appreciate your help. When we get back, I'll do my best to post about how it went.

It won't be perfect if the vineyards are in the middle of their harvests! Just something for the OP to keep in mind. There's no way to know yet exactly when that will be, but some vineyards just can't take the time for visitors during this time (depending on their size/resources, of course).

I'm not a tour person, either, but I've taken a couple wine tours (all in the US, though) and have never regretted it. Between not having to worry about driving and the tour guide (assuming he/she is local) knowing the vineyard operators, I'm convinced we wouldn't have had the same, wonderful experiences as if we'd try to do it ourselves.

Whatever you decide, enjoy! Sounds like a nice trip.