Go Holiday France wine tours help you discover fine wines from a little known part of southern France; the Languedoc. The Romans found the area perfect for producing wine, but for 200 years, the creative art of the oenologist & quality wine has been neglected. This region now develops some of the most exciting wines in France today. Our wine tours take you to small, independent, family-owned producers that we have built up a special relationship with & who you would otherwise be unable to visit.
Our wine tours can be combined with cooking courses matching wines with traditional, regional cuisine. Tours also encompass history, culture & sightseeing. Wine tour holidays are designed around what you want to do, how much relaxation & how many excursions you would like to take.
Tailor made wine & gourmet holidays, just for you.
Please contact us with your holiday requirements
10% discount: Special introductory offer: Mixed selection of 12 bottles Please email or phone us to discuss your choice of wines.
Wine tours to coteaux de languedoc, corbiéres, minervois & limoux
Accommodation is offered in our Chateau Hotel including full board & self-catering. We are located between mountains & sea,
in the Languedoc wine region of the South of France.
The Languedoc–Roussilion region of Southern France boasts the largest acreage of vineyards in the world, but very few of quality wines produced here actually reach the UK. Come & discover the wines for yourself.
visit the vignerons in their own chais & experience wine in production
We offer our restaurant & holiday guests the very best wine from this region where we have spent considerable time researching & testing the wines from many producers. We have been truly amazed, particularly by some of the younger generation of vignerons in this area, by their dedication to produce magnificent wines, full of distinctive character.
In the Languedoc, vinification is a natural process, the terroir is without chemicals, grapes picked by hand & fermentation unaided, therefore the flavours are pure & uncompromised. We can hopefully pass on some of the ‘personal’ touch, passion & energy that has gone into developing these great wines. Wine tours take you right into the heart of the land.
Please scroll down to view part of a typical wine tour itinerary
Example Itinerary for 3 night stay
Arrival Day
Pick-up from airport and 40 minute drive to the Chateau. Settle-in and have a complimentary aperitif and a brief chat about the wine tour programme ahead. There will be a chance to relax, soak up the atmosphere or even have a swim! A 3-course evening dinner follows with sampling, as the French do, different regional wines with each course.
Day 1
starts by getting ‘down & dirty’ with a brief talk in a local vineyard to demonstrate the different ways that the local vines are grown, pruned and trained. Then we drive down to Les Corbières and visit a Husband & Wife team who took over a domaine several years ago that had been producing wine since the 17h Century. They now have one of the most well run ‘câves’ in the region that produces some excellent red wines based on the Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault and Mouvédre and for whites, Maccabeu and Marsanne. Guests will be given a tour of all the processes, from where the grapes enter the building during the Vendage to the finished wines stored in the oak barriques prior to bottling, and there is the opportunity to sample their full range of wines.
After a 40 minute drive through rolling vineyard countryside leads to Lagrasse for a leisurely lunch in a beautiful medieval village nestling in the hills next to the river Orbieu. Here there is an ancient Cistercian Abbey which houses maps showing the original wine routes from Rome running along the Mediterranean coast to Narbonne and the South of France.
After lunch we head towards Carcassonne, to Monze and Mont d’Aleric. This producer uses predominately Syrah, Grenache and Carignan for his red’s, with Marsanne, Roussanne and white Grenache for his whites. In particular he makes a quite stunning pink sparkling Syrah produced in the traditional Champagne method and a late harvest dessert wine that incorporates ‘Clairette’, an ancient wine variety. We drive through some superb scenery to visit a village at the heart of the Minervois wine region, La Livinière which has one of the smallest wine appellations in the region but boasts some of the most complex wine blending under the strict AOC regulations. Here we visit another Husband & Wife team who moved from Bordeaux 10 years ago and had the vision to see that the local terroire is unique and now produce wines that sell through the Wine Society in the UK. We return back to the Chateau about 6.00pm to relax for two hours or so before enjoying a fun evening dinner, again matching different combinations of food & wine.
Day 2
After breakfast the tour will again take you into the Corbières where the Romans or even the Phoenicians before them, discovered the region’s potential and began to produce wine. The Son of the family we visit in the morning has taken his Father’s wines to a new level and having been awarded gold and silver medals since 2000, he even exports to the USA. Here are three beautiful red wines in typical Corbières deep ‘rounded’ style using a blend of Carignan, Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre and one of the best Rosé wines in the region.
We stop off at the village of Le Somail for lunch overlooking the famous Canal Du Midi and afterwards return to La Livinière to experience a 2nd Domaine that produces arguably the best red wine in the Minervois with blends of up to 6 grape varieties!
The last tasting is at St Jean Minervois, renown for their gorgeous desert wines from the Muscat grape. The tour returns back to the Chateau passing the pretty village of Minerve, famous for the slaughter of 140 Cathars in 1210 during the Albegensian Crusade.
The final dinner of the holiday further explores the wine & food adventure with a special emphasis on the unique Cartegene wines of the region from the late harvests.
The experience from the tours and all three evenings will give guests a quite unique insight into the range of wines from this fascinating region.
Departure day
Depending on flight times, there will be an opportunity to order wines that can be delivered in the UK to your door in the UK if you wish, or just take a stroll into the village before the time for your departure.
Goholiday Wine Tour price includes
Carcassonne Airport collection & return
A warm welcome from your English hosts and complimentary apéritifs
3 gourmet evening dinners at the Chateau & different regional wines with each course
2 days of chauffeur driven wine tours and tour guide
Meeting the dedicated French wine producing families at their vineyards
Tasting new & exciting wines that are emerging from this ancient wine region
Experiencing the passion, history and beauty of the region
2 relaxing lunches in local cafes or at the Chateau
Chateau accommodation with heated pool and peaceful gardens
Full continental breakfasts with fresh fruit, croissants, chocolatines, beverages etc
The opportunity to buy wines at vineyard prices or wine delivered to your UK home
19.6% tax(TVA)
Prices
From £464 (€689) per person for 2 guests sharing a room
Reductions for parties of 6-12 persons. Prices based on the euro.
please email us for more information on wine tours
gowinedirect
Domaine du Puits es Pratx
40 Avenue du Minervois
11120 Ginestas
De L’Aude
La France
Tel: 00 33 (0)468 46 58 33 Mob: 00 44 (0)7785 288 465 Fax: 00 33 (0)468 33 90 76