The purpose of this blog-site is to share how to go about Do-It-Yourself Wine Touring and provide some examples of trips. There are a lot of organized tours out there that offer wonderful itineraries, but they are very expensive and like most tours they are jam packed with activities. We prefer slow travel.
My name is Derek and my wife is Brenda. We have had a lifelong interest in wine. Once our children flew the coup we could visit some of our favorite wine areas. We added to our wine knowledge by taking and passing the WSET Level 2 course.
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What is DIY Touring?
DIY of course means Do-It-Yourself. However this does not mean you have to do arrange everything by yourself. It does mean you do not sign up for a bus tour or a cruise or in the case of “wine touring” a very expensive small group tour.
Why do your Wine Touring by yourself?
There are three main reasons. First it is typically cheaper, second you control the pace of your touring and third you get a more intimate experience.
Cheaper – a high end, small group, wine tour with a sommelier can be a great experience however you pay for it. Yes there are pros such as leaving the driving to someone else and having your own wine expert with you. You do pay for this and also the corresponding high end hotels. DIY touring allows you to pick the accommodations you want – Airbnb or old fashioned B&Bs can be a godsend in some famously expensive towns.
Control Pace – I am a big believer in “slow travel”. I build slack time into my itineraries to rest, stroll (paseo in Spain) through the towns at night, leave options to see a show or just dine at night, etc. Some of the best wine memories are cracking open a bottle that you picked-up that day and having it with your homemade meal made back in your apartment. This also allows you to do some food shopping at a local market or a small shop.
Intimate Experience – We have had some truly magical experiences with 2 to 4 of us being the only ones touring. One favorite memory was Brenda and I sat outside at a picnic table looking out at the vineyard and cyprus trees in Italy, tasting wine with some nibbles. They were sold out of their principal wine but we formed a connection with our host who ran into the winery and found a bottle for us to taste.
The opposite of an intimate experience was a wine tasting on an ocean cruise tour. 3 buses showed up as people jostled to get their plastic cup of bulk wine and some flavorless rubber cheese. No presentation on grapes, terroir or method.
Cheating
A hardcore DIYer may not agree with me but I believe it is Okay and in some places even necessary to go on a guided day tour. Bordeaux is not really set-up for self-guided touring; so taking a couple of day tours is pretty much required. So why do a DIY tour to Bordeaux when you are just hopping in a van anyways?
- You still get to control costs by choosing your accommodations and the wine tour company
- A half day tour still leaves you time to visit a local wine museum or wine bar for dinner or see the sights in town (you can’t drink 10 hours a day, at least I can’t)
- These day tours are typically done with a van so a total of about 6-7 people, often less, providing that intimate experience
Non wine touring
Yes there is more to touring than wine. One great thing about wine country anywhere in the world is that it is often Food Country as well. In Europe there is so much history. California’s central coast offers Hearst Castle and the steering wheel clenching drive along highway#1. I will address non-wine sights and activities in my blogs but I will leave the details to the experts like Rick Steves.
I will note that we do like to add a significant physical activity to our touring like biking or hiking. Europe is very bike friendly and does offer some amazing hiking (like Cinque Terre).
Roman Blog
What does wine have to do with the Romans? Around the Mediterranean everything. The Romans ruled their conquered lands and the Romans liked their wine and planted vineyards in France, Spain, Germany & Portugal. This is exactly how we became interested in the Romans. Our first empty-nest trip to the south of France was primarily about wine and cycling but we always see the sights in an area. In Arles they have an amphitheatre and a great museum. Then out in the countryside looking at Van Gogh sights we stopped in at Glanum. Glanum is the ruins of a Roman town and more about it in its own Blog.