It’s a love affair that may have started in a Paris bistro or a cafe in Tuscany–the love affair, that is, between an American traveler and European wines.
More than one oenophile (wine lover) has been born after a memorable trip abroad. For those enamored of the grape, there are wine tours that show off the best of Europe’s vineyards and wineries. Here’s a taste. Rates are per-person, based on double occupancy.
Esperienze Italiane Travel (c/o Felidia Ristorante, 243 East 58th St., New York, N.Y. 10022; 212-758-1488 or 800-480-2426; www.lidiasitaly.com) was founded by chef and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich, who offers visits to leading Italian restaurants and sessions with food and wine experts in Tuscany and Umbria.
These are food and art trips as much as wine trips. For example, in Tuscany, the food writer Burton Anderson and Baron Francesco Ricasoli of the Castello Brolio estate are guests of honor.
There’s a cooking demonstration in Chianti, olive oil tastings and wine tasting with producers from Isola e Olena and Fontodi wines. The San Lorenzo market in Florence and Michelangelo’s New Sacristy are also on the itinerary.
The cost of the six-night trip is $3,950 and includes accommodations and most meals.
France in Your Glass (814 35th Ave., Seattle, Wash. 98122; 800-578-0903; www.inyourglass.com) is the leading American company for wine tours and vacations to the greatest wine-growing regions of France. That’s no easy task.
Unlike Napa and Sonoma Valleys in California, with their open-door policies and tasting rooms that welcome one and all, the great wine chateaux in France are virtually inaccessible without a formal invitation.
France in Your Glass’ founder and president Ronald Holden has made his reputation by getting American wine lovers past otherwise locked gates. He offers the kind of access that only those in the trade customarily have.
The “Connoisseur Wine Programs” allow guests to taste the most prestigious wines of France in areas such as Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne.
For example, “Great Estates of Burgundy” is a four-night program that offers tours of the great Burgundian vineyards and private visits and tasting with such “negociants” or shippers as Bouchard and Leflaive and growers like Roumier, Matrot and Senard.
In addition, meals are at Michelin-starred restaurants and grand cru wines are served.
Lodging for five nights in Beaune, daily breakfast and some lunches and dinners are included in the $3,295 price.
Holden also offers weekends with wine expert Michael Broadbent, a “Grand Tour” led by himself and Broadbent, culinary and food vacations, and ” `Your Way’ Independent Wine Country Programs.”
These trips, in such regions as Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and Provence, are for travelers who want to go along at their own pace.
The price varies, but expect to pay at least $400 per person in Burgundy or Bordeaux for up to three people for a one-day program that includes lunch and visits with a local bilingual wine professional.
The Parker Company (319 Lynnway, Lynn, Mass. 01901; 800-280-2811; www.theparker company.com) calls its wine and gastronomy tours to Italy the “Great Wines of Italy.”
These are affordable three-day, three-night trips that explore six regions of the country: Latium, Umbria, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Veneto.
Each tour costs $599 and includes three nights of lodging in distinctive three- or four-star hotels, sommelier-guided tours, daily buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner, admission to all wineries and museums and motorcoach transportation.
Take Tuscany as an example. Guests rendezvous in the town of Pienza at the Hotel Il Chiostro, a former 15th Century convent. The first day, they travel to Montepulciano, visit the Redi cellars, picnic in the Brunello vineyards and sample the wines at the Enoteca Regionale.
On day two, it’s a similarly packed itinerary in Chianti, and on day three, in Siena.
In between are picnics, gourmet dinners and a chance to taste the greatest wines of the region. And the short duration of these tours make them a good fit into any Italian vacation. It’s possible to combine consecutive three-day trips as well. A nine-day wine tour, for example, runs $1,595.
Finally, wine historians and lovers of the grape note the “Fete de Vignerons” or the Wine Grower’s Festival, a unique Swiss celebration that is held but five times a century in the Lake Geneva waterside town of Vevey.
More than 250,000 people are expected to attend the last “Fete de Vignorons” of this century, which will be held next year, from July 26 to Aug. 15, 1999.
Now, of course, is the time to book tickets and a hotel room for what will likely be a sold-out event.
The festival dates back to 1819, when a banquet and village parade were the rewards for an outstanding harvest.
Organized by the “Confrerie des Vignorons,” the fraternity of wine growers, the festivities and parade have become increasingly elaborate over the years. In 1999, more than 4,600 actors and artists will participate in the spectacle.
For information on tickets and accommodation, contact Switzerland Tourism, 608 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10020; 212-757-5944; www.lake-geneva-region.ch.
