french wine country
Any suggestions for traveling to French wine country from Paris. How long, can you do it in a day? Where to go?
Jarmine
Queens 1/7/13
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Jarmine - I'd suggest doing a little research so you can narrow down what wine(s)/Region(s) you are interested in. You can read "French Wine for Dummies" or see if you can get your hands on a copy of DK's "French Wines." You'll see that the country of France pretty much is "French wine country." Once you understand more about French wines, you can see that you have plenty of choices in where you can go from Paris. There are limited choices for day trips, and Reims (champagne region) is probably the most popular.
The Burgundy region is beautiful but you need several days for travelling there and to really enjoy your time there.
You can get an all day van tour of the Cotes du Nuit for arround 110 Euro pp leaving from Dijon (1 1/2 hr from Paris on TGV) 2 hour lunch stop in Beaune (on your own) return to Dijon at 5 for TGV return to Paris. You'll be in a van with a few others (7 maximum per tour) with experienced knowledgable English speaking guide/driver. 3 stops at wineries for tastings and great introduction to the wines of Burgundy. Double the price and you can make it a private tour. The advantage of having a driver becomes apparent after the first tasting, you don't have to spit out the wine after tasting! Doing tastings driving in your own car would require spitting if you don't want to violate French DUI regs (You need to carry your own breatholisor in the car).