Displaying items by tag: Wine tours
Learning and loving (without counting): a week in the hills and cellars of Alsace
There’s no wine region I enjoy visiting more than Alsace.
It’s beautiful, of course – and not just the half-timbered houses around which a profusion of flowers seem to float, or the grand hillside vineyards romping up to the forested Vosges mountains, always somehow bigger and more imposing in scale than those of Burgundy. The growers are fascinating characters, too, as if their historical and geographical position, wedged between (and much fought-over by) France and Germany, has given them an independence of thought which eludes those with a more settled position in each wine culture.
Then there’s the wines. It’s commonplace to say that Alsace wines are underappreciated -- but it’s true. For me, no white wine region can offer more diversity and intrigue than Alsace, nor does any single regional range of white wines appeal more to my palate...
Best restaurants for your Bourgogne wine tour
Burgundy is a very dynamic region in a constant state of flux. On one hand it’s a region deeply rooted in tradition. Just take a look at the Fête de la Saint-Vincent tournante – a festival celebrating the patron saint of winemakers – and you clearly see that this is a region with one foot in the past. On the other hand...
Top Bordeaux restaurants with good wine lists
… including excellent restaurants out in the wine regions.
Preparing your next Bordeaux wine tour?
Sarah Graham-Beck, Tour Manager on the Wine Scholar Guild’s Bordeaux wine tours will be writing a series of articles about travel tips to Bordeaux.
In this first article, Sarah shares a selection of top Bordeaux restaurants with a great wine list!
Food and wine are at the heart of life in Bordeaux. The city and its surroundings now offer some of the best restaurants in France, on a par with Lyon & Paris.
7 Reasons to Study Bordeaux + Buying Tips
1) Bordeaux is France’s largest quality wine region and largest producer of AOC wine.
2) The quality of its vintages drives the fine wine market globally.
3) Bordeaux’s rich history, commercial significance, mercantile mindset, size, and quality set it apart from other French wine regions.
Sarah Graham-Beck reports live from our 2017 Bordeaux Wine Study Trip
Assisting trip instructor Gerard Basset MW, MS, our Tour Manager Sarah Beck-Graham reports daily on the learnings and encounters on our 2017 Bordeaux wine study trip taking place October 1st through 6th 2017.
Sarah lives in Bordeaux and has 15 years of experience in the Bordeaux wine industry. She has been manager of a top Right Bank chateau and worked for several top Bordeaux wine merchants. She now guides wine tours in the region and handles logistics for wine-related events.
Bourgogne Wine Tour Up Close and Personal
I am pleased to share my Burgundy wine tour experience with the Wine Scholar Guild, as it was the trip of a lifetime. My wife and I arrived a couple of days early and enjoyed fine wine and dining in Paris before our quick train trip over to Beaune (via Dijon). We spent Sunday on our own, touring the Hospices de Beaune, wandering the city streets and having a lovely dinner.
Tuscany Wine Tour with Jane Hunt MW
Tuscany Wine Tour with Jane Hunt MW
May 21 – May 26, 2023
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YOUR 6-DAY TUSCANY WINE TOUR INCLUDES:
- Instruction throughout by Jane Hunt, Master of Wine, Tuscany expert and senior judge for Italian wines at the Decanter World Wine Awards
- All professional-level tours and extensive tastings at renowned wine producers
- Services of a tour manager throughout, providing customer service and logistics support
- 2 nights at the seaside, 4-star Park Hotel Marinetta in Bibbona, double occupancy
- 1 night at the elegant, 4-star NH Hotel in Siena, double occupancy
- 2 nights at 4-star Relais Vignale & Spa, surrounded by vineyards in Chianti, double occupancy
- Welcome drink with your instructor and tour manager
- 5 buffet breakfasts
- 4 delicious lunches with top-quality wines of the region
- 2 gourmet dinners with top-quality wines of the region
- Deluxe, air-conditioned motor coach transportation throughout, with bottled water on-board
- All taxes and gratuities for included restaurants
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MEET YOUR WINE GUIDES
Your Wine Tour Instructor: Jane Hunt MW
Your Wine Tour Instructor: Jane Hunt MW- Master of Wine specialized in Italian wines
- Senior judge for Italian wines at Decanter Wine World Awards tasting competition
- Jane speaks fluent Italian and spends 6 month of the year in Umbria where she produces olive oil from her own trees
- With over 40 years’ experience in the wine trade Jane has witnessed an amazing revolution in Italian wine production
Your Wine Tour Manager : Claudia Cesarino
Assisting the instructor and making sure logistics run smoothly and that your needs are answered will be Claudia Cesarino.
Claudia’s career started in the international hospitality industry and event organising at the St. Regis Grand Hotel in Rome and then at Vinopolis in London. She then worked in India for the famous Italian wine company Marchesi Antinori, training the staff about wine at prestigious hotels like the Hyatt, Sheraton, Kempinski, Taj, Oberoi and Park.
Now a very experienced wine tour guide, Claudia is a member of the Italian Sommelier Association.
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6 reasons to join our Tuscany Wine Tour in 2023
- Enjoy personal guidance and instruction from Jane Hunt, Master of Wine and senior judge for Italian wines at the Decanter World Wine Awards tasting competition
- Visit the region’s most iconic wine appellations including Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico, and Bolgheri
- Get access to some of the most prestigious and sought-after large and small wine producers and as you experience “insider” tours
- Discover how short distances between wine regions manifest themselves in the glass as you taste the remarkable differences
- Let Tuscany’s medieval cities transport you through time as you follow cobblestone trails in the region’s famous walled cities
- Indulge in the renowned, authentic cuisine of Tuscany – an immensely varied use of seasonal vegetables, panzanella, a salad made from bread and fresh tomatoes, ribollita, a bean soup, the famous Fiorentina steaks from the Tuscan breed of Chianina beef, Cinta Senese pork, locally hunted wild boar, delicious pasta dishes sometimes including local truffles as well as all manner of diverse salumi and Pecorino sheep cheeses. Delicioso!
Travel with a group of wine students who are serious about wine, either as wine professionals or committed wine lovers. Share an educational, epicurean and unforgettable experience while mastering the world of Bordeaux. Trips are open to people from all countries, and are held in English.
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The Magic of Tuscany
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to travel through all the key appellations of this Italian wine region with a true expert and fabulous instructor!
Tuscany’s famous hills are home to some of the world's most notable wine regions. Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano showcase Sangiovese, the king of red grapes in Toscana. The wines of Bolgheri will challenge what you think you know about Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Experiencing the incredible wines of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, may make you see Italian white wines in a whole new light.
A lot meets the eye when you visit beautiful Tuscany, but so much more is waiting to be discovered. Tuscany’s diverse climatic conditions, soils and topography make the region a vast mosaic of distinctive terroirs—often combined with a rich historic and cultural heritage hard to match elsewhere.
CHECK OUT ALL UPCOMING WINE TOURS
Our exceptional wine tours offer intensive, professional-level, educational programming within the wines regions of France, Italy and Spain. Lead by top wine industry professionals, our itineraries take you into some of the best cellars and vineyards for hands-on learning and unparalleled tasting opportunities. What better way to connect theory with practice!
Wine Tourism In Champagne with Mary Kirk
Summary:
After giving you a brief overview of the Champagne region, Mary will share her experiences on how to best tour this mythical wine region. To fully appreciate this unique bubbly wine, it is helpful to come here and experience a walk through vineyards, feel pieces of the chalky soil and observe the hillsides around filled with vines.
Meandering through the chalk aging cellars as well as meeting the different actors, from independent grower-producers to the well-known Champagne houses, are also experiences that help broaden ones understanding of this famous wine region. What you can expect, sites you shouldn't miss and guidelines on how to best benefit from your time travelling in Champagne will be discussed during this session.
Presenter: Mary Kirk
Mary Kirk is a fully-bilingual French-American who lives and works in France. After finishing her university She studied and trained to earn the French degree of sommelier-Conseil from l'Universit du Vin in the Rhone Valley of France. She has also studied at the Wine and Spirits Education Trust in London. She had been working in the wine sector and providing wine-based tours in the Champagne region for over 10 years. She also leads wine-tasting events and teaches wine classes in a convivial yet professional manner to Anglophone and French wine lovers.
Embark on our Champagne Study Trip with professional-level instruction on-site coupled with a certificate program!
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