Private Loire Valley Wine Day Tours
There are three prime destinations in our private Loire Valley wine tours departing from Paris as a day tour. We suggest either of them: Chinon at the border of Touraine and Anjou, the Vouvray & Montlouis appellations next to Tours, or the Sancerre & Pouilly Fumé appellations in the east end of the Loire Valley. They take you on a two-hour drive from Paris (or a one-hour TGV ride for the first two) to some of the most attractive and renowned wine producing areas of France, in a delightful full day excursion.
Using the high-speed train from Paris to Tours and back entails switching to a rental car at the St. Pierre des Corps station just outside Tours. This increases the tour cost slightly, but it ensures that you will not have to endure traffic bottlenecks while returning to Paris, which often adds an extra hour to that trajectory.
A Loire Valley wine tour of Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé treats you to the pleasures of dry white wines made from the sauvignon blanc grape in a limestone-rich terroir that can produce astonishing and rarely-seen complexity for this grape. We will take you to such domains as those of Château de Tracy in Tracy-sur-Loire and Henri Bourgeois in Chavignol, near Sancerre. We suggest one wine estate visit in each appellation, separated by a memorable country meal, such as at La Tour in the town of Sancerre. There is also a red wine produced in the Sancerre appellation, using the pinot noir varietal that is used so extensively in near-by neighboring Burgundy.
Our private Loire Valley wine tour of Vouvray and Montlouis explores the world of the chenin blanc grape in clay and gravel soil above the tuffeau (a soft limestone found abundantly in the region), near the Loire River, where the white wines can be either dry or sweet. We can take you to the domains of Domaine Marc Brèdif in Rochercorbon and Francois Chidaine or Jacky Blot in Montlouis. For lunch there is a nice selection of delightful country inns, including one of our favourite restaurants in all of France, the Auberge du Bon Laboureur in Chenonceaux.
Our private tour of Chinon puts the focus primarily on red wines that are produced from the cabernet franc varietal that is also used extensively in the right bank of Bordeaux. Traditionally Chinon’s red wines were much lighter, but that has evolved in the last few decades, and Chinon’s red wines now can be quite fleshy. Should you be interested, there are producers in Chinon who practise bio-dynamism, such as the Domain de la Noblaie, who make wonderful wines. Chinon also offers a choice among many fine country inns for lunch.
Interested In Our private Loire Valley wine tour?
The Vouvray and Montlouis appellations are in the most romantic and royal part of the Loire Valley. If you wish, we can limit the number of wine visits to make time available to visit a château, such as Chenonceau, or Amboise or perhaps Leonardo da Vinci’s last home, Le Clos Lucé.
“Shahin,
Just a quick note to let you know how much we enjoyed the tour of the Loire Valley [Custom Loire Valley Day Tour from Paris of 2 chateaux and 1 wine estate]. Let me start by saying the best part of the trip was meeting you and listening and learning about the history of France and specifically Chenonceaux. Your comments and guidance throughout the day made the experience far more than just a sight-seeing trip. Lunch was great and so were Amboise and the wine tasting. I can’t thank you enough for putting this tour together for us, we will enjoy the memories for years to come.
Merci beaucoup,”
Stephen Kelly – San Francisco, CA
For more information or to schedule a tour, please contact us at our
