Laurina

My husband and I will be in Paris for two weeks in May. Are there any wine tasting tours or day trips to any of the regional wineries? I checked on cityrama and paris vision, but they have none

Rex

Basically, Laurina, the problem is that Paris is about as close to the wine-producing regions of France as Las Vegas is to the wine-producing regions of California. <BR> <BR>The closest region is the Champagne region. Search champagne, Reims or Epernay here, and you will find a number of threads on touring these from Paris. <BR> <BR>If you want to sample wines from other specific regions, there are the white wines of the Loire valley (but these are not considered "famous" and the region is not particularly set up to accommodate the would be wine-taster tourist crowd), the Beaujolais and the Burgundy regions (the former is a sub-region within the latter), the entire Rhone valley (les Cotes du Rhone) which offers (in the view of some), more variety than other regions (reds, rosés and whites), Alsace (where you will find sweeter, German-style white wines) and the Bordeaux region (in the view of many, the Cadillacs of French wines - - or anywhere in the world for that matter - - dry reds and dry whites). <BR> <BR>I have listed these roughly in the order of distance(s) from Paris, ranging from 2-3 hours to as much as 6-10 (driving time). So, day trips are not as practical as you might suppose. <BR> <BR>But "les boutiques de vin" are all over France - - don't get too obsessed with going to "les vignobles" (where grapes are grown, but wine isn't necessarily made) or "les domaines" (where wine is made or cellared, but not necesaily where you will find vines) - - this is not necessarily essential to your learning about, tasting or buying extraordinary wines at great prices. <BR> <BR>You can have a great "degustation" (tasting) of anywhere and everywhere you go in France. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

elvira

Wine tasting in Bordeaux could be in done in a day trip if you mean from 7am until 10am sort of thing. You could take an early morning train to Bordeaux, pick up a wine tour through their tourist office, return to Bordeaux in late afternoon then catch a train to Paris. You could also take a train to Epernay or Reims and visit a champagne cave or two, then take the train back that evening. I don't know about the Loire, as I've never done or investigated that. <BR>Paris itself has one vineyard on the back side of Montmartre; there is a wine museum in the 16eme that offers tours of the museum and (minimal). tastings.

Christina

Chablis is pretty well-known for its wine and it's only a few hours from Paris, half way between Paris and Dijon (a lot closer than Las Vegas to the wine regions of Calif, I might add). You could do it if you really wanted, as I've gone there on a day trip and had a great time. Here is a good web site on the town of Chablis which gives info on the wine routes, the wine houses that you can visit, etc: www.chablis.net. There is an email address for the tourism office if you wish to ask them for maps or questions, specifically perhaps on local tours once you get there. The train is not fast but do-able (you could ask them if there is an alternative, but this is what I know): you take the train from Gare de Lyon to Auxerre, which I think is the closest town with a rail station; it is only about 6 miles from Chablis so you can take a taxi from there. This is a slow train but takes you through the Burgundy region, the dept of Yonne, so might be of interest as a sideline; the trip is just about 2 hrs. One schedule is a 7:45 train that gets there about 9:40 am and then a return train at 7:29 pm which gets into Paris at 9:37 pm. Auxerre is actually a very interesting little town worth a look in itself, that's why I went there--there is the Abbaye of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre there which is well worth viewing and a few other buildings as I recall. Here is their website: www.auxerre.com/tourisme/default.htm

Rex

My example was intended to be more figurative than literal, I guess. Perhaps a better comparison is from Palm Springs or Fresno to the wine-producing regions of California (there ARE wine-producing regions in Southern California). <BR> <BR>My point is that the pursuit of good wines can be a good reason to leave Paris for one or more days - - or alternatively, wine shopping without leaving Paris can take you on a "virtual" trip to multiple regions of France. <BR>

Rex

to the top - - for Dawn... <BR> <BR>Postscript: If this forum had an easier way to locate and direct readers to a specific (previous) posting by a unique identifier (timestamp), it would not be necessary to top (and repeat) information so tediously. This is my new crusade, and I am thinking about adding this postscript (when applicable) to every new reply I make here. If you agree with me, then please write to Danny Mangin or David Downing - - [email protected] - - and encourage them to move forward with this improvement (and any others they have up their sleeves) to this best-on-the-web travel forum! <BR>