The Douro Valley Wine Tour: an exclusive tour along a magnificent wine river

— A luxurious wine tour with spectacular views. Many wine regions lie along a famous river. But the Douro in Portugal is the most spectacular of them all! The landscape is dramatic and beautiful. The vines grow on break-neck slopes. We will enjoy two nights at a charming hotel in the heart of the Douro Valley. During the trip we will get to know both the classic port wines and the more modern “table” wines that today reach world class. As well enjoy Portuguese gastronomy.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |   More on the tour

Vineyards along the river, copyright BKWine Photography

In this stunning landscape along the Douro river in northern Portugal the vines grip the steep slopes with their fingernails, often with the help of narrow terraces. In summer it is very hot and dry, autumn is often lovely. The grapes will be transformed into the famous port wine but more and more also into “table” wine.

The new generation of winegrowers n the Douro valley have in a few decades gained a reputation for making excellent, world-class non-fortified “table” wines. It is difficult today to make a living only from port and it turns out that the climate and the soil is also perfect for table wines, both reds and whites.

From its source in Spain 300 miles east, where it is called the Duero, the Douro river flows west and joins the Atlantic in Porto. Already in Spain it is the source of several wines but it is when it flows into Portugal that it becomes the origin of one of the world’s most famous wines, here in the Douro Valley.

The river landscape is spectacular and wild, but it has been tamed by wine growers many hundred years back. It used to be a dangerous and violent river but since a handful of dams were built in the mid-twentieth century it is now a calm waterway. There are no longer the old-fashioned barcos rabelos transporting wine from the quinta on the water down to Porto. Instead you see cruise ships today.

Cais da Estiva, Porto, Portugal, copyright BKWine Photography

We will drive up from Porto on winding roads, over the mountains with breath-taking views and into the wine districts.

We will get to know both the port wines and the red table wines of the region, and even a few whites. But calling these wines “table” wines may give the wrong impression. They are very serious wines with high ambitions.

The vineyards are very difficult to work and making wine here is a tough task. Making simple wines would hardly be worth while here. The winemakers focus on top-quality blends in order to gain international reputation. Which they have done successfully.

It is good to see that many of the wines are made from genuine Portuguese grape varieties, rather than from international grapes that can be found anywhere in the world today. We will get to know wines made from touriga nacional, tinta roriz, touriga franca, sousa and others. Very exciting wines.

As demand for port is decreasing, more and more red table wine is being made. And the producers are discovering the enormous potential their grapes have for full bodied and tasty table wines. This mix of port and high quality table wine makes the Douro Valley a very exciting wine region to visit.

The tour starts in Porto (sometimes called Oporto). It is one of the biggest cities in Portugal although it does not count more than 200,000 inhabitants. The city centre is a gem, very old and winding streets climb the hills with many architectural sights as well as a wealth of restaurant, bars and cafés. You arrive in Porto on the Wednesday.

View over the river from a hotel room, copyright BKWine Photography

Porto is on the UNESCO list of Cultural World Heritage and a must to visit. Our hotel is centrally located with only a short walk down to the old harbour. An evening walk and a glass of port while enjoying the view across the river over the sister city of Vila Nova de Gaia cannot be avoided. It is actually in Vila Nova, and not in Porto, where all the port houses have their lodges. If you have the possibility we do recommend that you spend a day or two extra in Porto.

On the Thursday morning our bus will pick us up at the hotel and we will start our journey into the Douro Valley, up the river.

We will spend the following two nights in Alto Douro, the heart of the valley. We will also have two dinners together here.

Saturday evening we are back in Porto where we will spend our last night.

Our visits will be a mixture of big houses and small family producers. We visit 2 or 3 producers every day – travel is slow in the Douro on the narrow and winding roads. We will focus both on port wines and on table wines.

We will also have ample opportunities to get to know the traditional Portuguese food, a gastronomy of its own. Cooking is often traditionally rustic but high class cuisine has also arrived in the Douro Valley. We will enjoy three lunches together as guest on the vineyards. On the Thursday and Friday evening we will also be enjoying two gastronomic dinners together at our hotel in the Valley.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.

More info

We have written a lot about the Douro Valley and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Douro Valley.

You can also find more information on the Douro Valley wines on BKWine Magazine.

Program — Douro Valley wine tour

Preliminary programme.

For more details, contact BKWine.

Program overview

• Wednesday — Arrival in Porto
• Thursday — Between Pinhao and Regua
• Friday — High up in the upper Douro
• Saturday — Tradition and modernity in the Douro
• Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday October 22 — arrival in Porto

A boat on the Douro river in the Porto harbour, copyright BKWine Photography

Arrival in Porto. Check-in at our four-star hotel in the city centre, in the district of Ribeira.

You can go for a walk, not very far, down to the river bank and look at the view over Vila Nova de Gaia where all the traditional port lodges of the big brands are located: Taylor’s, Sandeman, Dow’s, Ferreira, Croft, Ramos Pinto etc. Here you can also see a few well-preserved samples of the traditional boats, barcos rabelos, used for transporting wines on the river.

There are plenty of restaurants and bars along the quay-side and if you want to stroll over to Vila Nova it is just a short walk across the Eiffel-inspired bridge.

The evening is free to discover Porto. One of the very best restaurants in the region is just around the corner from our hotel. Perhaps a good way to begin the tour?

Dom Luis I bridge seen from Cais da Ribeira, Porto. Na Sra da Serra do Pilar monastery, Vila Nova de Gaia, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday October 23 — Between Pinhão and Regua

Our comfortable bus picks us up in the morning and our journey across the mountain and along the river begins.

A winery building on a hilltop with terraced vineyards all around

The road along the Douro River is slow and winding and to get a good start we take the motorway to Vila Real and Peso da Regua. From there we will go along the river more slowly, into the Alto Douro, the heart of the district. When we arrive there and you see it you will understand why this is on the UNESCO list of Cultural World Heritage!

This day we will visit some top quality wine producers who have invested heavily in recent years to gain world reputation not only for the port wines but also for the table wines.

The grape must destined to become port is often fermented in lagares, the traditional shallow stone troughs. Sometimes they are equipped with computer controlled pigeage, mechanical feet that replicates the stomping of human feet. But many producers still do tread the grapes with “real” people!

We visit the Quinta do Infantado, a family winery making top quality wines with a lot of personality. The vineyards are farmed organically and the winemaking is very artisanal. It is the Roseira family who owns it since the mid 19th century.

Old oak vats with aging wine

Between the morning visit and the afternoon visit we stop for lunch at the charming Quinta de la Rosa, owned by the Bergqvist family. They have a beautiful view over the river and we will taste their home-cooked food, regional specialities, vegetables from the garden and their own olive oil.

The Bergkvist family has 55 hectares of vineyards and recently celebrated their centenary as a port wine producer. With a name like that they are of course of Swedish origin but that is several generations back.

Late afternoon we will arrive at our hotel in Pinhão, the beautiful Vintage House*****. After check-in you can go for a walk or perhaps for a swim in the pool. Later in the evening we will sit down for a gastronomic dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, ending with a port wine, of course!

The view over the river and vineyards from Quinta do Tedo in the Douro Valley, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday October 24 — Up, far into the Douro valley

After breakfast we will continue our tour along the beautiful river to reach Santo Adrião .

Table set for lunch and a wine tasting, copyright BKWine Photography

After a few kilometres along the river we arrive at Quinta de Tedo, owned by the Frenchman Vincent Bouchard (with family ties to Bouchard Pere & Fils in Burgundy) and his American wife Kay. They bought this 250 year old property, including 14 ha of vineyards, in 1992.

After a visit to the cellar and a thorough tasting we sit down for a traditional lunch. We will of course taste the range of wines from the winery along the food, including some delicious ports, and we will taste their very exclusive olive oil.

After lunch we head upstream towards Sao Joa da Pesqueira where we will visit Quinta de Sra. do Rosario, perhaps better know as Quevedo Wines. Oscar Quevedo and his family has some 100 ha of vineyards in Cima Corgo and Douro Superior.

Quevedo Wines makes both table wine and port, including some very exclusive tawny (barrel aged) ports. We will taste a series of older and older tawnies. Oscar started his career working in finance in Madrid and Geneva but has come back to the Douro some years back and is now working with his sister to develop the family winery.

Oscar is still only around 30 but has already created a name for Quevedo Wines all over the world. Being young he has a talent for “social media” on the internet which certainly helps. It will be an interesting visit that will give you an insight into both wines and marketing.

Late afternoon we return to the hotel and have some time to relax before it is time for our dinner. We will taste several different wines with our dinner and we will end maybe with a delicious vintage port.

Vineyards along the river, copyright BKWine Photography

Saturday October 25 — Tradition and modernity in the Douro Valley

We will leave our hotel in the morning and slowly begin our slow journey back to Porto. You must never be in a hurry in the Douro Valley!

The Douro River with terraced vineyards and a riverside village, copyright BKWine Photography

We have a busy day including one of the biggest and most famous producers in the valley, Quinta de Seixo, owned by Sogrape, the biggest wine company in Portugal.

The winery is on a hilltop with a breathtaking view over terraced vineyards and over two rivers. Getting there we have to follow a sinuous road that makes you grip tightly to the bus seat.

Here is where the grapes for the famous Sandeman port is grown. Quinta de Seixo is a beautiful winery with a recently rebuilt cellar where mechanical feet do the treading of the grapes. It is all very modern thanks to recent investments made in the facilities. We will also have time for a walk in the vineyard to see close-up the impressive terraces.

We will stay for lunch on the hilltop at Quinta de Seixo, enjoying the view, their wines and their ports. It is difficult to get enough of it, not least the view!

Autumn colours in the steep terraced vineyard

On our way back towards Porto we will make a stop at a quinta that is a pioneer in the Douro in several ways, for example in making table wines.

They were one of the first to gain international recognition for their non-fortified wines, but also their port wines are of world-class. They are also pioneering a trend towards slightly drier port wines, more adapted to modern tastes and more emphasising the fruit and the elegance.

Early evening we arrive back in Porto for a last night. The evening is free to discover the restaurants and night life of Porto. We are happy to share with you our best restaurant addresses! Perhaps a stroll along the quay side, or a walk across the “Eiffel Bridge” to Vila Nova an all the water-front restaurants? Or a short trip to the coast and a visit to one of the fish restaurants? There is plenty to do in Porto.

Sunday October 26 — Heading back home

Trip ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

In the wine cellar at Quinta do Tedo in the Douro Valley, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Wine tour to the Douro Valley in Portugal

Dates: 22-26 October 2014

Price per person: 1260 euro

Single room supplement: 295 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast
  • 2 nights in four-star hotel in Porto
  • 2 nights in five-star hotel in the upper Douro Valley
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches, including wines, at wineries or local restaurants
  • 2 gastronomic multi-course dinners, including wines
• Start and end point: Porto
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Visits will be in English
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to the destination yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 10 participants registered at the “book before” date.

Book This Trip

Book before: 15 June 2014

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 250 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

An owner-winemaker at a winery we visit, copyright BKWine Photography

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About the wine producers and wineries we visit

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation – in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year in Sweden” 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book in Sweden for Professionals” 2012 as well as silver, second place, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45″). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

Bordeaux, a classic wine tour destination! Luxurious châteaux and ambitious winemakers!

— In Bordeaux you find world famous châteaux and world famous wines but also a lot of new exciting initiatives – less famous but maybe more important for the future of Bordeaux! – and young enthusiastic wine makers. On this trip we will visit both some big, famous Grand Cru Class chateaux and smaller ones that are less known, but very quality conscious. We will visit the well-known regions like Medoc and Saint-Emilion, but also rising-stars among the regions, like Entre-deux-Mers. We will learn about viticulture, vinification and vintages and after this trip you will know quite a lot about what’s going on in Bordeaux.

Program   |   Travel facts   |   Book   |  More on the tour

An elegant Bordeaux wine cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

There will probably be a lot of harvesting going on and we will have a golden opportunity to see what happens both in the vineyard and in the cellar during this important season.

In all the châteaux we will get private tastings together with the people who are involved in the wine making and who are delighted to share with us their passion for fine wine.

We will stay four nights in the city of Bordeaux, an elegant and very beautiful city of just over half a million people. In the evenings you will have the possibility to explore Bordeaux, the sights and the many restaurants, at your leisure.

The city of Bordeaux is on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. You can read more about it in our City Guide to Bordeaux.

We will meet in Bordeaux, which is easy to reach. Bordeaux has its own airport and it is only 3 hours away from Paris by TGV-train. You will arrive on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning our bus will pick us up for our first visits in the vineyards. Sunday is departure day.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.

Place de la Bourse and the Miroir d’Eau fountain, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about Bordeaux and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Bordeaux wine region.

You can also find more information on the wines from Bordeaux on BKWine Magazine.

Here are a few videos from winery visits in Bordeaux:

Programme — Bordeaux wine tour

Preliminary program.

Contact BKWine for more details.

Program overview

• Wednesday — Arrival in Bordeaux
• Thursday — The Medoc, where chateau-palaces line the road
• Friday — Entre-deux-Mers and Sauternes
• Saturday — Saint Emilion, Fronsac, Pomerol
• Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday September 17 — Arrival in Bordeaux

Arrival in Bordeaux. Check in at our 3-star hotel, located in the city centre.

A classical chateau in Bordeaux

Bordeaux city is the centre of the Bordelais wine trade. But today you see more of beautifully renovated renaissance or baroque mansions, luxurious boutiques and university students than wine warehouses.

Bordeaux is without a doubt one of France’s most elegant cities, where it lies along the banks of the Garonne River. What used to be warehouses and parking places have been transformed into a myriad of cafés, wine bars, and restaurants. Here you can find everything from Michelin starred places to friendly neighbourhood bistros.

The two things one absolutely must do is to explore The Old Town and go for a stroll along the river and see the Place de la Bourse when evening is falling!

Evening is free to explore the city. Perhaps you will start with an aperitif at a wine bar? Why not try a Lillet, a spicy and fragrant wine-based drink “invented” by the brothers Paul and Raymond Lillet in 1872? It is still made in the same location where they started! It was made famous also by its appearance together with James Bond in Casino Royale. We will be happy to share with you some of our favourite addresses!

Late afternoon aperitif at a bistro, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday September 18 — The Medoc

Our bus will pick us up at our hotel after breakfast. We will spend the day in Medoc, home to many of the big châteaux names and famous for its wines made primarily of cabernet sauvignon.

A magnificent oriental chateau facade, copyright BKWine Photography

Here in the Medoc the vines grow on a narrow strip of land along the Gironde estuary, sheltered from the rain and winds from the Atlantic Ocean by the Landes pine forest.

We will drive along the route des chateaux that leads north. This is a spectacular journey along an almost unreal road. The magnificent chateaux, some are virtual palaces, are dotted along the road like a string of pearls.

Our bus will take us through the villages of Margaux, Saint-Julien and Pauillac and up to Saint-Estephe and we will see many beautiful and famous chateaux on the way.

You will see many famous wine estates (winery is too humble a word) where the cabernet sauvignon grape dominate in the vineyards. The terrain is gently rolling hills, the best vineyards have a view over the river.

Grapes on the vine, ripe and ready for harvest, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit three different chateaux, both impressively big and smaller family owned ones.

At lunch time we will make a visit to a magnificent family-owned chateau.

We will first have a private tour of the cellar. If timing coincides with the harvest we will see the extremely diligent sorting of the grapes that is done at “grape reception”, a key element in producing top quality wine.

This is followed by a wine tasting and a lunch. The lunch is quite exceptional, a gastronomic meal that is on par with many a luxury restaurant, the only difference being that you can enjoy it at a chateau and taste several of their own wines with the different course.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. A walk along the river is a must. At dusk the famous miroir d’eau, the water mirror, at the Place de la Bourse is at its most spectacular. You can also find many excellent restaurants along the newly redesigned river walk.

Chateau entrance, Bordeaux, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday September 19 — Entre-deux-Mers and Sauternes

We board the bus after breakfast to cross the river Garonne for our visit in Entre-deux-Mers. In the afternoon we will taste some of the world’s best sweet white wines in Sauternes.

Topping up a wine barrel, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit the vineyards and learn how to pick grapes and how to know when they are ripe enough to be picked.

In the cellar we will talk about fermentation, blending, oak ageing and different decisions that the wine maker has to take during the year.

After the visit you will be invited to sit down for a delicious winery buffet with local specialities at the winery. With that we will taste the chateaux’s own wines.

After lunch we will drive through Entre-deux-Mers. We will cross the Garonne again, but further south, we will go through Graves and we will end up in Sauternes.

We are going to visit one of the grand chateaux in this region, well known for its sweet wines made from noble rot. We will learn how these magnificent wines are made, a process that is quite complicated. We will also taste a few different vintages.

Tasting wine in a vaulted barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

If the vintage has progressed as normal and is not late we will take a look at the vineyards and see the early stages of this “noble rot” that produces there extraordinary wines. It is quite an incredible sight to see, the shrivelled sweet grapes.

The production of these exclusive wines is painstaking. The grape pickers go over each parcel of vines several times to make sure that only the best grapes are picked.

The yield (the amount of wine produced per hectare) is tiny: less than half of what is normal for other wines, not with noble rot. Considering all these these luscious wines really do seem quite affordable.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. Free evening. There are still many restaurants and wine bars to discover. With dessert it is surely time for a glass of sauternes!

Saturday September 20 — Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol

Today we cross both rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne. We will visit the right bank, rive droite, of Bordeaux: Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol.

Grapes with noble rot just harvested, copyright BKWine Photography

The landscape is more hilly here than in the Medoc and the châteaux are smaller. This is also where you will find the most expensive wines of Bordeaux!

We will visit, among other chateaux, the lovely Château de la Dauphine in Fronsac. The chateau has been beautifully restored and the wine cellar in ultra modern. The wines are well structured and classic in style.

We will also visit famous Chateau Franc-Mayne where we will also have the opportunity to admire the magnificent limestone cellar and to taste some older vintages.

Our lunch this day will be at Château Troplong Mondot, a prestigious 1er Grand Cru Classé. They recently opened a restaurant next to the cellar, called Les Belles Perdrix. Here we will enjoy a 3 course meal with the wines of the château.

We will also have time for a stroll in the picturesque town of Saint Emilion before our afternoon visit. Saint Emilion is a wonderful medieval small town on the World Heritage list of UNESCO.

Early evening come back to our hotel in Bordeaux. The rest of the evening is free to make more discoveries in the city centre. Perhaps a walk in the Old Town. The beautiful façades are a must to see!

Sunday September 20 — Heading back home

Tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

Vineyards in Saint Emilion, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Bordeaux wine tour

Dates: 17-21 September 2014

Price per person: 1350 euro

Single room supplement: 200 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast:
  • 4 nights in the city centre of Bordeaux at 3-star Hotel Majestic
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches including prestigious wines; at least 2 of the lunches at a wine chateaux
• Start and end point: Bordeaux
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Interpretation from French as needed, though some visits may be in English
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

This trip is limited to only 8 participants.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Bordeaux yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

Bordeaux has an international airport that you can fly to. But if you want to spend a few extra days in for example Paris it is easy and fast to take the train between Paris and Bordeaux. It takes about 3 hours from Paris Montparnasse or around 4 hours from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Train tickets are released for sale three months before the travel date. It is easy to book train tickets on the internet. Book train ticket in French here or book trains in English here.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered at the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 8.

Book This Trip

Book before: 1 June 2014

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 250 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

A winemaker tasting her wine, copyright BKWine Photography

v.13.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation – in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year in Sweden” 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book in Sweden for Professionals” 2012 as well as silver, second place, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45″). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

Bordeaux, a classic wine tour destination! Luxurious châteaux and ambitious winemakers!

— In Bordeaux you find world famous châteaux and world famous wines but also a lot of new exciting initiatives – less famous but maybe more important for the future of Bordeaux! – and young enthusiastic wine makers. On this trip we will visit both some big, famous Grand Cru Class chateaux and smaller ones that are less known, but very quality conscious. We will visit the well-known regions like Medoc and Saint-Emilion, but also rising-stars among the regions, like Entre-deux-Mers. We will learn about viticulture, vinification and vintages and after this trip you will know quite a lot about what’s going on in Bordeaux.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

An elegant Bordeaux wine cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Over three full days we will travel around the Bordeaux wine region and visit both prestigious chateaux and smaller family-owned estates.

In all the châteaux we will get private tastings together with the people who are involved in the wine making and who are delighted to share with us their passion for fine wine.

We will stay four nights in the city of Bordeaux, an elegant and very beautiful city of just over half a million people. In the evenings you will have the possibility to explore Bordeaux, the sights and the many restaurants, at your leisure.

The city of Bordeaux is on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. You can read more about it in our City Guide to Bordeaux.

We will meet in Bordeaux, which is easy to reach. Bordeaux has its own airport and it is only 3 hours away from Paris by TGV-train. You will arrive on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning our bus will pick us up for our first visits in the vineyards. Sunday is departure day.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides. This exclusive tour has a maximum 8 participants so you will indeed feel very privileged.

Place de la Bourse and the Miroir d’Eau fountain, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about Bordeaux and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Bordeaux wine region.

You can also find more information on the wines from Bordeaux on BKWine Magazine.

Here are a few videos from winery visits in Bordeaux:

Programme — Bordeaux wine tour

Preliminary program.

Contact BKWine for more details.

Program overview

• Wednesday — Arrival in Bordeaux
• Thursday — The Medoc, where chateau-palaces line the road
• Friday — Graves and Sauternes
• Saturday — Saint Emilion, Fronsac, Pomerol
• Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday April 22 — Arrival in Bordeaux

Arrival in Bordeaux. Check in at our 3-star hotel, located in the city centre.

A classical chateau in Bordeaux

Bordeaux city is the centre of the Bordelais wine trade. But today you see more of beautifully renovated renaissance or baroque mansions, luxurious boutiques and university students than wine warehouses.

Bordeaux is without a doubt one of France’s most elegant cities, where it lies along the banks of the Garonne River. What used to be warehouses and parking places have been transformed into a myriad of cafés, wine bars, and restaurants. Here you can find everything from Michelin starred places to friendly neighbourhood bistros.

The two things one absolutely must do is to explore The Old Town and go for a stroll along the river and see the Place de la Bourse when evening is falling!

Evening is free to explore the city. Perhaps you will start with an aperitif at a wine bar? Why not try a Lillet, a spicy and fragrant wine-based drink “invented” by the brothers Paul and Raymond Lillet in 1872? It is still made in the same location where they started! It was made famous also by its appearance together with James Bond in Casino Royale. We will be happy to share with you some of our favourite addresses!

Late afternoon aperitif at a bistro, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday April 23 — The Medoc

Our bus will pick us up at our hotel after breakfast. We will spend the day in Medoc, home to many of the big châteaux names and famous for its wines made primarily of cabernet sauvignon.

A magnificent oriental chateau facade, copyright BKWine Photography

Here in the Medoc the vines grow on a narrow strip of land along the Gironde estuary, sheltered from the rain and winds from the Atlantic Ocean by the Landes pine forest.

We will drive along the route des chateaux that leads north. This is a spectacular journey along an almost unreal road. The magnificent chateaux, some are virtual palaces, are dotted along the road like a string of pearls.

Our bus will take us through the villages of Margaux, Saint-Julien and Pauillac and up to Saint-Estephe and we will see many beautiful and famous chateaux on the way.

You will see many famous wine estates (winery is too humble a word) where the cabernet sauvignon grape dominate in the vineyards. The terrain is gently rolling hills, the best vineyards have a view over the river.

Grapes on the vine, ripe and ready for harvest, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit three different chateaux, both impressively big and smaller family owned ones.

At lunch time we will make a visit to a magnificent family-owned chateau.

We will first have a private tour of the cellar.

This is followed by a wine tasting and a lunch. The lunch is quite exceptional, a gastronomic meal that is on par with many a luxury restaurant, the only difference being that you can enjoy it at a chateau, in the calm luxury of their dining room. And you will taste several of their own wines with the different courses.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. A walk along the river is a must. At dusk the famous miroir d’eau, the water mirror, at the Place de la Bourse is at its most spectacular. You can also find many excellent restaurants along the newly redesigned river walk.

Chateau entrance, Bordeaux, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday April 24 — Graves and Sauternes

Today we will taste some of the world’s best sweet white wines. We will however start the day in Graves, the best region for dry white wines in Bordeaux. But of course, they also make delicious reds here.

Topping up a wine barrel, copyright BKWine Photography

We will start the morning with a visit to a Grand Cru Classé château in the appellation of Pessac-Léognan in the northern part of Graves. We will have the opportunity to taste both red and and white wines.

After that we will visit one of the neighbouring chateaux, another beautiful classified château. This is a magnificent estate where we will also have lunch.

We will make a short visit in the garden and the cellar. After that it will be time for an aperitif and a private, prestigious lunch will be served in the dining room of the chateau.

After lunch we will have a 45 minute drive to Sauternes. In Sauternes we will learn everything about the production of “noble rot” wines. The production of these exclusive wines is painstaking. The grape pickers go over each parcel of vines several times to make sure that only the best grapes are picked. The yield (the amount of wine produced per hectare) is tiny: less than half of what is normal for other wines.

Tasting wine in a vaulted barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit one of the top chateaux here in Sauternes, a Premier Grand Cru Classé de Sauternes 1855. There were only nine chateaux classified as such in 1855.

After a fascinating visit we will taste different vintages of their Sauternes to see how it evolves with ageing.

The white wines of Sauternes is perhaps the world’s most exclusive sweet wines. They are produced in minute quantities and top quality examples are often very difficult to find abroad.

Sauternes wines also age magnificently into wines with stunning bouquet and taste. As you will have the opportunity to experience.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. Free evening. There are still many restaurants and wine bars to discover. With dessert it is surely time for another glass of sauternes!

Saturday April 25 — Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol

Today we cross both rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne. We will visit the right bank, rive droite, of Bordeaux: Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol.

Grapes with noble rot just harvested, copyright BKWine Photography

The landscape is hillier here than in the Medoc and the châteaux are smaller. This is also where you will find the most expensive wines of Bordeaux!

We will visit, among other chateaux, the lovely Château de la Dauphine in Fronsac. The chateau has been beautifully restored and the wine cellar is ultra modern. The wines are well structured and classic in style.

We will also visit famous Chateau Franc-Mayne where we will also have the opportunity to admire the magnificent limestone cellar and to taste some older vintages.

We will have lunch at a small and beautiful state-of-the-art winery in Pomerol. The soil here is very diverse and helps to give a lot of complexity in the wines. We will probably have a grillade au sarments, an entrecôte grilled on vine branches, a typical, and delicious, Bordeaux way of preparing the meat.

We will also have time for a stroll in the picturesque town of Saint Emilion before our afternoon visit. Saint Emilion is a wonderful medieval small town on the World Heritage list of UNESCO.

Early evening come back to our hotel in Bordeaux. The rest of the evening is free to make more discoveries in the city centre. Perhaps a walk in the Old Town. The beautiful façades are a must to see!

Sunday April 26 — Heading back home

Tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

Vineyards in Saint Emilion, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Bordeaux wine tour

Dates: 22-26 April 2015

Price per person: 1520 euro

Single room supplement: 200 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast:
  • 4 nights in the city centre of Bordeaux at 3-star Hotel Majestic
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches including prestigious wines; at least 2 of the lunches at a wine chateaux
• Start and end point: Bordeaux
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Interpretation from French as needed, though some visits may be in English
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

This trip is limited to only 8 participants.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Bordeaux yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

Bordeaux has an international airport that you can fly to. But if you want to spend a few extra days in for example Paris it is easy and fast to take the train between Paris and Bordeaux. It takes about 3 hours from Paris Montparnasse or around 4 hours from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Train tickets are released for sale three months before the travel date. It is easy to book train tickets on the internet. Book train ticket in French here or book trains in English here.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered at the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 8.

Book This Trip

Book before: January 15, 2015

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 300 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

v.14.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

A winemaker tasting her wine, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45″). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

The Douro Valley Wine Tour: an exclusive tour along a magnificent wine river

— A luxurious wine tour with spectacular views. Many wine regions lie along a famous river. But the Douro in Portugal is the most spectacular of them all! The landscape is dramatic and beautiful. The vines grow on break-neck slopes. We will enjoy two nights at a charming hotel in the heart of the Douro Valley. During the trip we will get to know both the classic port wines and the more modern “table” wines that today reach world class. As well enjoy Portuguese gastronomy.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

Vineyards along the river, copyright BKWine Photography

In this stunning landscape along the Douro river in northern Portugal the vines grip the steep slopes with their fingernails, often with the help of narrow terraces. In summer it is very hot and dry, autumn is often lovely. The grapes will be transformed into the famous port wine but more and more also into “table” wine.

The new generation of winegrowers n the Douro valley have in a few decades gained a reputation for making excellent, world-class non-fortified “table” wines. It is difficult today to make a living only from port and it turns out that the climate and the soil is also perfect for table wines, both reds and whites.

From its source in Spain 300 miles east, where it is called the Duero, the Douro river flows west and joins the Atlantic in Porto. Already in Spain it is the source of several wines but it is when it flows into Portugal that it becomes the origin of one of the world’s most famous wines, here in the Douro Valley.

The river landscape is spectacular and wild, but it has been tamed by wine growers many hundred years back. It used to be a dangerous and violent river but since a handful of dams were built in the mid-twentieth century it is now a calm waterway. There are no longer the old-fashioned barcos rabelos transporting wine from the quinta on the water down to Porto. Instead you see cruise ships today.

Cais da Estiva, Porto, Portugal, copyright BKWine Photography

We will drive up from Porto on winding roads, over the mountains with breath-taking views and into the wine districts.

We will get to know both the port wines and the red table wines of the region, and even a few whites. But calling these wines “table” wines may give the wrong impression. They are very serious wines with high ambitions.

The vineyards are very difficult to work and making wine here is a tough task. Making simple wines would hardly be worthwhile here. The winemakers focus on top-quality blends in order to gain international reputation. Which they have done successfully.

It is good to see that many of the wines are made from genuine Portuguese grape varieties, rather than from international grapes that can be found anywhere in the world today. We will get to know wines made from touriga nacional, tinta roriz, touriga franca, sousa and others. Very exciting wines.

As demand for port is decreasing, more and more red table wine is being made. And the producers are discovering the enormous potential their grapes have for full bodied and tasty table wines. This mix of port and high quality table wine makes the Douro Valley a very exciting wine region to visit.

The tour starts in Porto (sometimes called Oporto). It is one of the biggest cities in Portugal although it does not count more than 200,000 inhabitants. The city centre is a gem, very old and winding streets climb the hills with many architectural sights as well as a wealth of restaurant, bars and cafés. You arrive in Porto on the Wednesday.

View over the river from a hotel room, copyright BKWine Photography

Porto is on the UNESCO list of Cultural World Heritage and a must to visit. Our hotel is centrally located with only a short walk down to the old harbour. An evening walk and a glass of port while enjoying the view across the river over the sister city of Vila Nova de Gaia cannot be avoided. It is actually in Vila Nova, and not in Porto, where all the port houses have their lodges. If you have the possibility we do recommend that you spend a day or two extra in Porto.

On the Thursday morning our bus will pick us up at the hotel and we will start our journey into the Douro Valley, up the river.

We will spend the following two nights in Alto Douro, the heart of the valley. We will also have two dinners together here.

Saturday evening we are back in Porto where we will spend our last night.

Our visits will be a mixture of big houses and small family producers. We visit 2 or 3 producers every day – travel is slow in the Douro on the narrow and winding roads. We will focus both on port wines and on table wines.

We will also have ample opportunities to get to know the traditional Portuguese food, a gastronomy of its own. Cooking is often traditionally rustic but high class cuisine has also arrived in the Douro Valley. We will enjoy three lunches together as guest on the vineyards. On the Thursday and Friday evening we will also be enjoying two gastronomic dinners together at our hotel in the Valley.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.

Douro landscape and vineyards a rainy and sunny day, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about the Douro Valley and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Douro Valley.

You can also find more information on the Douro Valley wines on BKWine Magazine.

Program — Douro Valley wine tour

Preliminary programme.

For more details, contact BKWine.

Program overview

• Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Porto
• Day 2, Thursday — Between Pinhao and Regua
• Day 3, Friday — High up in the upper Douro
• Day 4, Saturday — Tradition and modernity in the Douro
• Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday, October 21 — arrival in Porto

A boat on the Douro river in the Porto harbour, copyright BKWine Photography

Arrival in Porto. Check-in at our four-star hotel in the city centre, in the district of Ribeira, Carris Porto Ribeira.

You can go for a walk, not very far, down to the river bank and look at the view over Vila Nova de Gaia where all the traditional port lodges of the big brands are located: Taylor’s, Sandeman, Dow’s, Ferreira, Croft, Ramos Pinto etc.

Along the river you can also see a few well-preserved samples of the traditional boats, barcos rabelos, used for transporting wines on the river.

There are plenty of restaurants and bars along the quay-side and if you want to stroll over to Vila Nova it is just a short walk across the Eiffel-inspired bridge.

The evening is free to discover Porto. One of the very best restaurants in the region is just around the corner from our hotel. Perhaps a good way to begin the tour?

Dom Luis I bridge seen from Cais da Ribeira, Porto. Na Sra da Serra do Pilar monastery, Vila Nova de Gaia, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday, October 22 — Between Pinhão and Regua

Our comfortable bus picks us up in the morning and our journey across the mountain and along the river begins.

A winery building on a hilltop with terraced vineyards all around

The road along the Douro River is slow and winding and to get a good start we take the motorway to Vila Real and Peso da Regua. From there we will go along the river more slowly, into the Alto Douro, the heart of the district. When we arrive there and you see it you will understand why this is on the UNESCO list of Cultural World Heritage!

This day we will visit some top quality wine producers who have invested heavily in recent years to gain world reputation not only for the port wines but also for the table wines.

The grape must destined to become port is often fermented in lagares, the traditional shallow stone troughs. Sometimes they are equipped with computer controlled pigeage, mechanical feet that replicates the stomping of human feet. But many producers still do tread the grapes with “real” people!

We visit the Quinta do Infantado, a family winery making top quality wines with a lot of personality. The vineyards are farmed organically and the winemaking is very artisanal. It is the Roseira family who owns it since the mid 19th century.

Old oak vats with aging wine

Between the morning visit and the afternoon visit we stop for lunch at the charming Quinta de la Rosa, owned by the Bergqvist family. They have a beautiful view over the river and we will taste their home-cooked food, regional specialities, vegetables from the garden and their own olive oil.

The Bergkvist family has 55 hectares of vineyards and recently celebrated their centenary as a port wine producer. With a name like that they are of course of Swedish origin but that is several generations back.

Late afternoon we will arrive at our hotel in Pinhão, the beautiful Vintage House*****. After check-in you can go for a walk or perhaps for a swim in the pool. Later in the evening we will sit down for a gastronomic dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, ending with a port wine, of course!

The view over the river and vineyards from Quinta do Tedo in the Douro Valley, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday, October 23 — Up, far into the Douro valley

After breakfast we will continue our tour along the beautiful river to reach Santo Adrião .

Table set for lunch and a wine tasting, copyright BKWine Photography

After a few kilometres along the river we arrive at Quinta de Tedo, owned by the Frenchman Vincent Bouchard (with family ties to Bouchard Pere & Fils in Burgundy) and his American wife Kay. They bought this 250 year old property, including 14 ha of vineyards, in 1992.

After a visit to the cellar and a thorough tasting we sit down for a traditional lunch. We will of course taste the range of wines from the winery along the food, including some delicious ports, and we will taste their very exclusive olive oil.

After lunch we head upstream towards Sao Joa da Pesqueira where we will visit Quinta de Sra. do Rosario, perhaps better known as Quevedo Wines. Oscar Quevedo and his family have some 100 ha of vineyards in Cima Corgo and Douro Superior.

Quevedo Wines makes both table wine and port, including some very exclusive tawny (barrel aged) ports. We will taste a series of older and older tawnies. Oscar started his career working in finance in Madrid and Geneva but has come back to the Douro some years back and is now working with his sister to develop the family winery.

Oscar is still only around 30 but has already created a name for Quevedo Wines all over the world. Being young he has a talent for “social media” on the internet which certainly helps. It will be an interesting visit that will give you an insight into both wines and marketing.

Late afternoon we return to the hotel and have some time to relax before it is time for our dinner. We will taste several different wines with our dinner and we will end maybe with a delicious vintage port.

Vineyards along the river, copyright BKWine Photography

Saturday, October 24 — Tradition and modernity in the Douro Valley

We will leave our hotel in the morning and slowly begin our slow journey back to Porto. You must never be in a hurry in the Douro Valley!

The Douro River with terraced vineyards and a riverside village, copyright BKWine Photography

We have a busy day including one of the biggest and most famous producers in the valley, Quinta de Seixo, owned by Sogrape, the biggest wine company in Portugal.

The winery is on a hilltop with a breath-taking view over terraced vineyards and over two rivers. Getting there we have to follow a sinuous road that makes you grip tightly to the bus seat.

Here is where the grapes for the famous Sandeman port is grown. Quinta de Seixo is a beautiful winery with a recently rebuilt cellar where mechanical feet do the treading of the grapes. It is all very modern thanks to recent investments made in the facilities. We will also have time for a walk in the vineyard to see close-up the impressive terraces.

We will stay for lunch on the hilltop at Quinta de Seixo, enjoying the view, their wines and their ports. It is difficult to get enough of it, not least the view!

Autumn colours in the steep terraced vineyard

On our way back towards Porto we will make a stop at a quinta that is a pioneer in the Douro in several ways, for example in making table wines.

They were one of the first to gain international recognition for their non-fortified wines, but also their port wines are of world-class. They are also pioneering a trend towards slightly drier port wines, more adapted to modern tastes and more emphasising the fruit and the elegance.

Early evening we arrive back in Porto for a last night. The evening is free to discover the restaurants and night life of Porto.

We are happy to share with you our best restaurant addresses! Perhaps a stroll along the quay side, or a walk across the “Eiffel Bridge” to Vila Nova an all the water-front restaurants? Or a short trip to the coast and a visit to one of the fish restaurants? There is plenty to do in Porto.

Cais da Ribeira, Porto, Portugal, copyright BKWine Photography

Sunday, October 25 — Heading back home

Trip ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

In the wine cellar at Quinta do Tedo in the Douro Valley, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Wine tour to the Douro Valley in Portugal

Dates: 21-25 October 2015

Price per person: 1300 euro

Single room supplement: 295 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast
  • 2 nights in four-star Hotel Carris Porto Ribeira in Porto
  • 2 nights in five-star Hotel Vintage House in the upper Douro Valley
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches, including wines, at wineries or local restaurants
  • 2 gastronomic multi-course dinners, including wines
• Start and end point: Porto
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Visits will be in English
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Porto yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 10 participants registered at the “book before” date.

Book This Trip

Book before: June 15, 2015

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 250 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

v.14.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

An owner-winemaker at a winery we visit, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45″). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

Bordeaux, a classic wine tour destination! Luxurious châteaux and ambitious winemakers!

— In Bordeaux you find world famous châteaux and world famous wines but also a lot of new exciting initiatives – less famous but maybe more important for the future of Bordeaux! – and young enthusiastic wine makers. On this trip we will visit both some big, famous Grand Cru Class chateaux and smaller ones that are less known, but very quality conscious. We will visit the well-known regions like Medoc and Saint-Emilion, but also rising-stars among the regions, like Entre-deux-Mers. We will learn about viticulture, vinification and vintages and after this trip you will know quite a lot about what’s going on in Bordeaux.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

An elegant Bordeaux wine cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Over three full days we will travel around the Bordeaux wine region and visit both prestigious chateaux and smaller family-owned estates.

There will probably be a lot of harvesting going on and we will have a golden opportunity to see what happens both in the vineyard and in the cellar during this important season.

In all the châteaux we will get private tastings together with the people who are involved in the wine making and who are delighted to share with us their passion for fine wine.

We will stay four nights in the city of Bordeaux, an elegant and very beautiful city of just over half a million people. In the evenings you will have the possibility to explore Bordeaux, the sights and the many restaurants, at your leisure.

The city of Bordeaux is on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. You can read more about it in our City Guide to Bordeaux.

We will meet in Bordeaux, which is easy to reach. Bordeaux has its own airport and it is only 3 hours away from Paris by TGV-train. You will arrive on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning our bus will pick us up for our first visits in the vineyards. Sunday is departure day.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides. This exclusive tour has a maximum 8 participants so you will indeed feel very privileged.

Place de la Bourse and the Miroir d’Eau fountain, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about Bordeaux and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Bordeaux wine region.

You can also find more information on the wines from Bordeaux on BKWine Magazine.

Here are a few videos from winery visits in Bordeaux:

Programme — Bordeaux wine tour

Preliminary program.

Contact BKWine for more details.

Program overview

• Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Bordeaux
• Day 2, Thursday — The Medoc, where chateau-palaces line the road
• Day 3, Friday — Entre deux Mers, Graves and Sauternes
• Day 4, Saturday — Saint Emilion, Fronsac, Pomerol
• Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday, September 23 — Arrival in Bordeaux

Arrival in Bordeaux. Check in at our 3-star hotel, located in the city centre.

A classical chateau in Bordeaux

Bordeaux city is the centre of the Bordelais wine trade. But today you see more of beautifully renovated renaissance or baroque mansions, luxurious boutiques and university students than wine warehouses.

Bordeaux is without a doubt one of France’s most elegant cities, where it lies along the banks of the Garonne River. What used to be warehouses and parking places have been transformed into a myriad of cafés, wine bars, and restaurants. Here you can find everything from Michelin starred places to friendly neighbourhood bistros.

The two things one absolutely must do is to explore The Old Town and go for a stroll along the river and see the Place de la Bourse when evening is falling!

Evening is free to explore the city. Perhaps you will start with an aperitif at a wine bar? Why not try a Lillet, a spicy and fragrant wine-based drink “invented” by the brothers Paul and Raymond Lillet in 1872? It is still made in the same location where they started! It was made famous also by its appearance together with James Bond in Casino Royale. We will be happy to share with you some of our favourite addresses!

Late afternoon aperitif at a bistro, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday, September 24 — The Medoc

Our bus will pick us up at our hotel after breakfast. We will spend the day in Medoc, home to many of the big châteaux names and famous for its wines made primarily of cabernet sauvignon.

A magnificent oriental chateau facade, copyright BKWine Photography

Here in the Medoc the vines grow on a narrow strip of land along the Gironde estuary, sheltered from the rain and winds from the Atlantic Ocean by the Landes pine forest.

We will drive along the route des chateaux that leads north. This is a spectacular journey along an almost unreal road. The magnificent chateaux, some are virtual palaces, are dotted along the road like a string of pearls.

Our bus will take us through the villages of Margaux, Saint-Julien and Pauillac and up to Saint-Estephe and we will see many beautiful and famous chateaux on the way.

You will see many famous wine estates (winery is too humble a word) where the cabernet sauvignon grape dominate in the vineyards. The terrain is gently rolling hills, the best vineyards have a view over the river.

Grapes on the vine, ripe and ready for harvest, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit three different chateaux, both impressively big and smaller family owned ones.

At lunch time we will make a visit to a magnificent family-owned chateau.

We will first have a private tour of the cellar.

If timing coincides with the harvest we will see the extremely diligent sorting of the grapes that is done at “grape reception”, a key element in producing top quality wine.

This is followed by a wine tasting and a lunch. The lunch is quite exceptional, a gastronomic meal that is on par with many a luxury restaurant, the only difference being that you can enjoy it at a chateau, in the calm luxury of their dining room. And you will taste several of their own wines with the different courses.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. A walk along the river is a must. At dusk the famous miroir d’eau, the water mirror, at the Place de la Bourse is at its most spectacular. You can also find many excellent restaurants along the newly redesigned river walk.

Chateau entrance, Bordeaux, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday, September 25 — Entre-deux-Mers, Graves and Sauternes

We board the bus after breakfast to cross the river Garonne for our visit in Entre-deux-Mers. In the afternoon we will taste some of the world’s best sweet white wines in Sauternes.

Topping up a wine barrel, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit the vineyards and learn how to pick grapes and how to know when they are ripe enough to be picked.

In the cellar we will talk about fermentation, blending, oak ageing and different decisions that the wine maker has to take during the year.

After the visit you will be invited to sit down for a delicious winery buffet with local specialities at the winery. With that we will taste the chateaux’s own wines.

After lunch we will drive through Entre-deux-Mers. We will cross the Garonne again, but further south, we will go through Graves and we will end up in Sauternes.

We are going to visit one of the grand chateaux in this region, well known for its sweet wines made from noble rot. We will learn how these magnificent wines are made, a process that is quite complicated. We will also taste a few different vintages.

Tasting wine in a vaulted barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

If the vintage has progressed as normal and is not late we will take a look at the vineyards and see the early stages of this “noble rot” that produces there extraordinary wines. It is quite an incredible sight to see, the shrivelled sweet grapes.

The production of these exclusive wines is painstaking. The grape pickers go over each parcel of vines several times to make sure that only the best grapes are picked.

The yield (the amount of wine produced per hectare) is tiny: less than half of what is normal for other wines, not with noble rot. Considering all these luscious wines really do seem quite affordable.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. Free evening. There are still many restaurants and wine bars to discover. With dessert it is surely time for a glass of sauternes!

Saturday, September 26 — Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol

Today we cross both rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne. We will visit the right bank, rive droite, of Bordeaux: Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol.

Grapes with noble rot just harvested, copyright BKWine Photography

The landscape is hillier here than in the Medoc and the châteaux are smaller. This is also where you will find the most expensive wines of Bordeaux!

We will visit, among other chateaux, the lovely Château de la Dauphine in Fronsac. The chateau has been beautifully restored and the wine cellar is ultra-modern. The wines are well structured and classic in style.

We will also visit famous Chateau Franc-Mayne where we will also have the opportunity to admire the magnificent limestone cellar and to taste some older vintages.

Our lunch this day will be at Château Troplong Mondot, a prestigious 1er Grand Cru Classé. They recently opened a restaurant next to the cellar, called Les Belles Perdrix. Here we will enjoy a 3 course meal with the wines of the château.

We will also have time for a stroll in the picturesque town of Saint Emilion before our afternoon visit. Saint Emilion is a wonderful medieval small town on the World Heritage list of UNESCO.

Early evening come back to our hotel in Bordeaux. The rest of the evening is free to make more discoveries in the city centre. Perhaps a walk in the Old Town. The beautiful façades are a must to see!

Wine barrels in the cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Sunday, September 27 — Heading back home

Tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

Vineyards in Saint Emilion, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Bordeaux wine tour

Dates: 23-27 September 2015

Price per person: 1520 euro

Single room supplement: 200 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast:
  • 4 nights in the city centre of Bordeaux at 3-star Hotel Majestic
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches including prestigious wines; at least 2 of the lunches at a wine chateaux
• Start and end point: Bordeaux
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Interpretation from French as needed, though some visits may be in English
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

This trip is limited to only 8 participants.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Bordeaux yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

Bordeaux has an international airport that you can fly to. But if you want to spend a few extra days in for example Paris it is easy and fast to take the train between Paris and Bordeaux. It takes about 3 hours from Paris Montparnasse or around 4 hours from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Train tickets are released for sale three months before the travel date. It is easy to book train tickets on the internet. Book train ticket in French here or book trains in English here.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered at the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 8.

Book This Trip

Book before: June 1, 2015

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 300 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

v.14.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

A winemaker tasting her wine, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45″). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

South America, the unique wine tour to Argentina & Chile!

Join us on a fantastic voyage of discovery in the vineyards of Chile and Argentina! And a breath-taking trip over the Andes.

— Chile and Argentina. Two wine countries on each side of the Andes mountain range. Both with grandiose scenery. And some of the very best wines in the New World. Imagine The Pampas extending to the horizon and the snow covered tops of the Andes. But also beautiful vineyards, impressive wineries, and a pulsating Buenos Aires. We will visit several of the very best vineyards including some very high quality producers that have not yet reach world fame. This tour also includes many other tourist and historic attractions. Outstanding wines that match the local gastronomy perfectly. A unique wine and food tour that will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

On the border, welcome to Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

All this and much more is on the program of this two-week trip to South America. The focus of the tour is of course on the wines, the vineyards and the gastronomy. But we will also have plenty of time to experience other things: Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Santiago de Chile, and Valparaiso.

We will enjoy a top-quality tango evening in Buenos Aires. We will taste Chilean pisco sour and will certainly have many occasions to enjoy the delicious Argentinean meat.

The tour is led and managed by Britt Karlsson, BKWine’s internationally well-known wine expert, wine personality of the year 2011, columnist at Forbes.com, and author of several wine books, including “The Creation of a Wine” that was named World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals.

Britt has also been wine judge in several wine competitions in both Chile, and Argentina, as well as in Uruguay and Brazil. We will also have a local South American guide on the trip.

Both Chile and Argentina are wine countries in transformation. Much is happening and much has changed in recent years. New wine regions emerge, new grape varieties are discovered or introduced, new ideas are tested and launched.

Landscape with vineyards in Casablanca Valley, copyright BKWine Photography

More and more producers talk about the importance of the work in the vineyard. Of harvesting perfectly ripe but not over-ripe grapes. To achieve balance and elegance. The consumers are demanding wines with more freshness; they do not want heavy over-alcoholic wines. We will see all this in detail when we visit the vineyards.

There is an intense energy and experimentation and the wines have never been so good.

Over the course of the tour we will have many wine tastings at some of the very top producers, both well established stars and young ambitious challengers. Perhaps you have not heard of all of them since some have not yet been discovered by the international markets!

We have been many times to South America, both Chile and Argentina, so we have had many opportunities to discover and hand-pick the most interesting producers.

Vineyards in Argentina with the snow capped Andes, copyright BKWine Photography

We will start the voyage in Santiago de Chile, Chile’s modern and beautiful capital, spectacularly surrounded by mountains. There are some world class restaurants here as well as cosy bistros.

From Santiago the metropolis we will go south to explore the Chilean wine regions. We will visit Maipo, close to the capital, and the beautiful Colchagua and Cachapoal Valleys. We will finish with the much more recent, but exciting wine district Casablanca that is very close to the coast. We will also visit the historic harbour city of Valparaíso, on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

An old wine cellar at a winery in Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

After a few days in the vineyards and wine cellars of Chile we will leave the region and have a very memorable day. We will take the bus across the Andes, to Argentina on the other side. Yes, it is a long bus trip, but comfortable and well worth it! It is spectacular with the zigzagging roads and mountain tops. A very special experience.

The Mendoza wine region awaits us on the other side of the Andes. Mendoza is Argentina’s biggest and most important wine region. Two thirds of all Argentinian wine comes from here. Mendoza is impressive, the snow-capped Andes in the background, almost like a stage set, and the brilliant sharp blue sky.

Argentina is a country with a long tradition in making wine. It is considered a New World country but it is very influenced by “old world” winemaking. It has always been the biggest wine consumer in South America and wine has a long history here. And with all the Spanish and Italian families that one can find here that should not come as a surprise.

The flag of Argentina, copyright BKWine Photography

Our last two days will be spent in Buenos Aires, this bustling city where Europe and the Americas blend in an exciting mix. Sometimes you may think you are in Paris, sometimes Milan. But it is definitely South America.

The trip takes place in February so it is nice and warm summer weather. The wine harvest is approaching; the grapes are almost ready to be picked.

The trip shows you much of the spectacular landscape in these countries. You also get a fascinating insight into the social, political and business life in two neighbouring countries, similar in some ways but yet, very, very different.

As always on our wine tours, food will also be prominently featured. We will enjoy many gastronomic meals at the wineries we visit. It is almost just as much a gourmet tour or foodie tour as a wine tour! We will try the local specialities, not least the outstanding meat of course, often grilled over open fires. And both Buenos Aires and Santiago have many high-class restaurants. Excellent food is an important part of a wine tour. We certainly think so!

We will be a small wine and food enthusiast group; this tour will have a maximum of 22 participants.

In the San Telmo district in Buenos Aires, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about the Chile and Argentina and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in South America.

You can also find more information on South American wines on BKWine Magazine.

Program — wine tour to Chile and Argentina

Preliminary program.

There may be changes to some details of the program, e.g. which wineries we visit. As always on our wine tours we put a great emphasis on that the visit will be exceptional and memorable. We do not always visit the most well-known or “famous” wineries (those that have half a dozen guides employed) but instead those that will give you a unique experience.

For more details, contact BKWine.

Program overview

• Day 1 — Departure from home for Santiago de Chile
• Day 2 — Arrival in Santiago de Chile
• Day 3 — Cachapoal and Santa Cruz
• Day 4-6 — Wine and food in Chile, the Colchagua wine district
• Day 7 — Maipo and Santiago de Chile
• Day 8 — Valparaíso and the wine region of Casablanca
• Day 9 — A spectacular crossing of the Andes to Mendoza in Argentina
• Day 10-12 — The wine regions of Mendoza and Uco Valley
• Day 13 — To Buenos Aires, city tour
• Day 14 — Buenos Aires, with farewell evening with tango show
• Day 15 — Departure from Buenos Aires
• Day 16 — Arrival at home

Day 1, Saturday, February 6 — Departure for South America

You leave from your home location. (Departure and arrival will be different depending on what your departure location is. See more info below.)

Day 2, Sunday, February 7 — Arrival in Santiago (Chile)

Arrival in the morning at Santiago de Chile International Airport. In most cases you will arrive on an over-night flight.

The Chilean flag, copyright BKWine Photography

As people will arrive at different times during the day, please take a taxi to our Santiago hotel. The transfer from the airport to the hotel will take you around 30 minutes.

Our hotel in Santiago is the Hotel Torremayor Lyon****. The hotel is very central, located in the Providencia district, an elegant part of the city with many shops and restaurants. It is also close to the river and to one of the most charming restaurant areas of the city.

The rest of the day is free to relax. After the long flight a walk will probably be welcome or maybe a swim in the hotel’s roof-top pool.

In the evening we all meet for dinner. Time to get to know each other and have our first tasting of Chilean wines.

A glass of wine in the evening in Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 3, Monday, February 8 — Cachapoal and Santa Cruz (Chile)

We check out from the hotel in the morning and begin our exploration of the Chilean wine regions. We travel south, some 80 kilometres, and arrive in the Cachapoal region.

De Martino Grand Reserva Legado Merlot Valle de Maipu 2010 and Carmenere

The landscape here is charming and beautiful. We will visit a winery that is surrounded by hilltops and vineyard fields to the horizon. In this region summer is warm and dry and both Carmenère and Cabernet Sauvignon thrive here. After the visit and tasting we will sit down and relax and enjoy a delicious lunch at the winery.

After lunch we continue to another of the famous wine districts in Chile, to Colchagua and the town of Santa Cruz, a small town in the Chilean country-side. We are now some 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Santiago.

We check in to the Hotel Santa Cruz Plaza****, a beautiful hotel in hacienda style. We will stay here for four nights.

Our hotel is very comfortable with a lovely swimming pool, a SPA, bars, two restaurants and even a cultural and historic museum. In the town you can also find some traditional restaurants that serve genuine and hearty food.

The evening is free.

A mansion at a winery in Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 4, Tuesday, February 9 — Colchagua: Viña VIK – a spectacular project (Chile)

Today we will make a visit to the exiting Viña VIK winery, a project created by the Norwegian financier and entrepreneur Alexander Vik. It is a spectacular place with the ambition to make one of the world’s best wines.

Serving delicious wine from a magnum, copyright BKWine Photography

The first vintage of this Bordeaux-inspired wine was made in 2009. The Norwegian businessman Alexander Vik asked Patrick Valette to find land suitable to make wine in Chile or Argentina. Patrick’s family previously owned Chateau Pavie in Saint Emilion, one of the most prestigious chateaux in Bordeaux, so he was well qualified for the task.

When Patrick had found the right land for the project he was also asked to take charge of the wine production and of the whole project.

Today they have some 300 hectares (740 acres) planted but they plan to grow. The whole property covers some 4000 hectares (10,000 acres). The new wine cellar building was inaugurated for the 2014 vintage and is quite spectacular… All about this estate is spectacular. Not least our lunch here!

We will try a few different vintages of this rare and exclusive wine and then it is time for a lovely asado lunch in the shade under the trees. We will enjoy the views of the landscape, the wine, the food…

In the afternoon we will be back at our hotel.

The rest of the afternoon and evening is free. What about meeting at the pool for an early evening pisco sour?

Vineyards on the hillside, Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 5, Wednesday, February 10 — Blend-your-own-wine workshop in Colchagua (Chile)

Today we will have some practical exercises at a winery called Montgras in Colchagua. A modern winery that also has a “library” of different grape varieties in the vineyard.

Alpaca lamas at a winery in Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

We start the day with a visit to the vineyard where they have a conservatory of different grape varieties. After that the hard work begins.

We will learn the art of blending wine. You will start with “raw material” in the form of tank samples of different grape varieties and the task is to make the best possible blend. Just like the winemakers do. How do they get the perfect blend? Easy or difficult? You will judge for yourself!

When you are happy with your blend and your very own wine is bottled and labelled (and safely in your bag) we will hop on our bus to go up to the hilly region of Ninquén where Montgras has one if their vineyards. We will have an al fresco barbecue in the vineyards with salmon ceviche and empanadas, grilled meat, fresh fish en papillote, fresh fruit and delicious salads. With a number of different wines from Montgras.

After lunch we will have time for one more winery visit. Late afternoon we come back to our hotel for some free time to spend, maybe around the swimming pool.

Blending workshop at a winery, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 6, Thursday, February 11 — Colchagua (Chile)

We will spend one more day in beautiful Colchagua. First we will visit an organic wine producer and then we will go to an exclusive boutique winery and restaurant.

Geese in the vineyard at a winery in Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit Cono Sur in Chimbarongo, well-known for their excellent wines but also for their efforts in developing organic and sustainable wine growing. They have geese in the vineyards that munch on some of the dangerous (for the vines) insects. They have planted trees in and around the vineyards to improve biodiversity. They will tell us much more about their work with the environment.

Another estate on the program today is the high quality boutique winery Viña Bisquertt. Bisquertt is a family-owned winery that was one of the pioneers in Colchagua.

We will have lunch at a third winery, at Viu Manent, in their top-quality restaurant Rayuela Wine & Grill. We will be treated to local food specialities that match perfectly the wines from cabernet, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and malbec from the winery.

Late afternoon we will be back in Santa Cruz. Evening on your own. Feel like something different? Surprisingly, there is a sushi restaurant in the small town, just around the corner from the hotel!

An old wine cellar at a winery in Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 7, Friday, February 12 — Santiago de Chile

We checkout and leave our hotel in Santa Cruz in the morning and head for Santiago. On our way back we will stop at a winery for lunch.

At the Emiliana vineyards in Casablanca Valley, copyright BKWine Photography

Just before we reach the capital we make a stop at a vineyard in Maipo, the well-known Undurraga estate. We start with an interesting tour of the estate that among other things includes a visit to their private museum with old Indian art and craft, they have some beautiful pieces on display, and a wine tasting of course.

This is followed by an asado in their quiet and calm garden. There will be several different types of things on the grill, not least an entire Patagonian lamb.

Undurraga is one of the classic wine producers in Chile, founded in the 19th century by Don Francisco Undurraga. They make a wide range of wines, from everyday wines to top quality wines from several different regions in Chile. In recent years their sparkling wines have received much attention.

After lunch, when we arrive in Santiago, we check in to our Hotel Torremayor Lyon where we will stay for two more nights.

The afternoon is dedicated to discovering Santiago. Our bus will take us around to the city sights. We will visit the historic districts around the presidential palace and the lively Plaza de Armas with its Baroque cathedral and the beautiful post office (!). We will go up to the Cerro San Cristóbal where you have the best view over the city and over the Andes and where we can admire the gigantic statue of the Virgin Mary keeping watch over the city.

In the evening you can spend time discovering some of the restaurants, cafés and wine bars in the city, many just a few minutes’ walk from the hotel.

Lunch among the vines at Emiliana in Casablanca Valley, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 8, Saturday, February 13 — Valparaiso and Casablanca (Chile)

We make an early morning start to drive out to the coast to visit the historic harbour city of Valparaiso.

View over Valparaiso in Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

The road to Valparaíso (that the Chileans pronounce Valpara-E-so) passes through the wine region of Casablanca that has recently become famous for its excellent white wines. Some experts say that the peculiar micro-climate here, close to the coast, is perfect for growing grapes.

There are not only vineyards but also e.g. lemon grooves, avocados (called palta in Chile) and flower nurseries.

Valparaiso is the most important port city in Chile. It has a special character, built on 42 hills. They have unique trams that take you across the city. Colourful houses line the incredibly steep streets. We will do a walking tour of the historic quarters. Put on good shoes!

After a morning of sightseeing in Valparaiso we leave town and head back towards Santiago. But we make an important stop along the way, in the vineyards of Casablanca.

We will enjoy a lunch at one of the quality wine producers in Casablanca. It will be a magnificent asado campestre, a country-style barbecue, a wonderful gastronomic and oenological end to the Chilean part of our wine and food tour.

Late afternoon we return to Santiago and the rest of the day and the evening is free. Perhaps a visit to a wine bar (or two) for some tapas after our asado lunch? Or time to try another peculiar food speciality: a Chilean hot dog!

View over the vineyards and the mountains in Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 9, Sunday, February 14 — Spectacular crossing of the Andes, to Mendoza, Argentina

Today we say goodbye to Santiago and to Chile and board our bus that will take us over the Andes to Argentina. The trip will take the better part of the day. Not all of it is spent in the bus though since the border crossing can take quite some time. In total the trip will take approx. 6 to 8 hours.

The snow capped mountain tops of the Andes, copyright BKWine Photography

It is a really spectacular trip, well worth spending a good part of the day in a bus. The landscape is fascinating and spectacular. At the border crossing we will have reached 3500 metres (almost 12 000 feet). We can see in the distance Aconcagua, the highest mountain top of the Andes and of the whole of the Americas with its 6959 metres (22 831 feet).

The road across the Andes is very good but very winding. 27 curves on one mountain side is the record. We pass ski resorts, mountain ranges of varying colour and shapes, deserts, small villages, rivers and spectacular views. The landscape changes all the time.

We will stop for lunch on our way.

When we arrive in Mendoza city we check in at the Hotel Sheraton Mendoza*****, in the centre of city of Mendoza. Here we will stay for four nights. This elegant and majestic hotel has several restaurants, for example one on the 17th floor, the highest in Mendoza, with a magnificent 360 view over the city and the Andes as well as a pool.

Free evening to discover Mendoza. We will be happy to give you our best recommendations for restaurants.

The winding road across the Andes between Chile and Argentina, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 10, Monday, February 15 — Wine in Mendoza, the Lujan de Cuyo region (Argentina)

Lujan de Cuyo is an important part of the Mendoza wine region. We will spend the day here. In Lujan de Cuyo we find a number of the most famous Mendoza wineries. Our bus will pick us up after breakfast and we have a 40 minute drive to our first winery visit.

Tasting wines at the Melipal winery in Mendoza, copyright BKWine Photography

We start at Bodegas Krontiras, a new winery founded in 2004 by Constantinos Krontiras and his wife Silvina Macipe-Krontiras. It is a small, exclusive estate with a brand new cellar. The estate is organic since 2008 and certified biodynamic since 2012. There are some very old vines of Malbec and Tempranillo and also olive trees.

We will have a delicious lunch at the famous Bodega Norton, one of the old wineries in Mendoza. It was created in 1895 by an engineer, Edmund Norton. He came to Mendoza when the railway was being built. He had a vision of making good quality wine when he saw the stony soil, the slopes and felt the fresh winds. A vision that came true. Norton is today famous for many types of wines, their Malbec not least.

Our afternoon visit will be to a small, high quality family winery. This is a very ambitious producer with an artisan winemaking process and a lot of care in every detail. The vineyards are situated at between 900 and 1100 metres above sea level. The varieties that they have planted are Malbec, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Semillon and Torrontes.

Late afternoon we will be back at the hotel in Mendoza.

Free evening to explore Mendoza. Perhaps an evening stroll on the Plaza Independencia where they have a late night arts and crafts market?

A traditional asado barbecue at a vineyard in Argentina, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 11, Tuesday, February 16 — Wine in Mendoza, the Uco Valley (Argentina)

Today we go a little further south, to the beautiful Uco Valley. It is about an hour and a half’s drive along the country-side roads before we arrive at the vineyards.

The barrel cellar with grand piano, Bodega Salentein, copyright BKWine Photography

Valle de Uco has in recent years become more and more attractive to growers in Mendoza. Many people have bought land here and built spectacular wineries.

The valley is closer to the Andes than other parts of Mendoza and the vines are grown at very high altitudes.

The grapes mature slowly due to cool nights which give added flavour and refreshing acidity to the wines. Above the vineyards towers Mount Tupungato, a still active volcano and one of the highest mountains in South America.

We will visit 2 or 3 different wineries here in Uco Valley and we will have lunch at the organic French-owned winery Domaine Bousquet, Argentina’s biggest exporter of organic wine.

Early evening we are back in Mendoza. The evening is free for your own activities.

Domaine Bousquet vineyards and the Andes, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 12, Wednesday, February 17 — Wine in Mendoza, the Maipú (Argentina)

Today we will visit a few different estates, for example the important winery called Finca Flichman, a very old estate.

A tender piece of Argentinian meat for lunch, copyright BKWine Photography

Finca Flichman is not only one of the biggest wineries but also one of the biggest exporters of Argentinian wine. They have done a lot of work on modern wine production techniques, both in the vineyards and in the cellar. Today they are owned by the Portuguese wine group Sogrape.

We will also visit a smaller family-owned vineyard where we will be invited to lunch. The family has been making wine in Mendoza for four generations.

We will first go for a walk in the vineyard. One of the things you must do on a wine tour is to inspect the vines and taste the grapes. This will be one more opportunity. We will have a tasting of their wines and then it is time for aperitif with some tasty bruschetta made with the olive oil from their own olive grove. Then we will sit down for a delicious home-cooked lunch.

Late afternoon we will be back at the hotel in Mendoza. Free evening.

A view over a winery and the Andes in Mendoza, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 13, Thursday, February 18 — To Buenos Aires, city tour (Argentina)

Today we board an early morning flight to Buenos Aires, some 1000 kilometres (620 miles) south east of Buenos Aires. Our bus will meet us at the airport and our own local guide will take us on a sight-seeing tour around the city.

The pink presidential palace in Buenos Aires, copyright BKWine Photography

We will also hop off the bus to have a closer look on some of the sites on foot, for example the famous Recoleta cemetery where Evita Peron is buried.

We will see some of the most famous sites, like the Plaza de Mayo with the pink presidential palace called, naturally, Casa Rosada, the impressive congress, and colonial churches such as Santo Domingo. We will also explore the colourful La Boca harbour district.

The tour will take a few hours. Halfway along the route we will stop at a restaurant to have lunch. It will be in the Puerto Madero district, a part of the city that has recently been totally renovated. Old warehouses along the Rio de la Plata River have been transformed into fashionable shops, charming cafés and friendly restaurants overlooking the water. With it we will have some typical Argentinian wines from some of the less well-known – but no less interesting – grape varieties, such as torrontés and bonarda.

Later in the afternoon check in at our hotel in Buenos Aires, Hotel Intersur Recoleta ****. The hotel is very central, located in the Recoleta district, a historically interesting and elegant part of the city. It is also close to the main shopping areas and several museums.

A church at the Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 14, Friday, February 19 — Buenos Aires and its sights, tango evening (Argentina)

Today you can stroll around the city on your own, have a strong Argentinian espresso in a café, or a glass of wine, and visit a museum or just rest.

Tango on a street corner, copyright BKWine Photography

In the evening we will meet again, for our final dinner together. And not only a dinner, we will also experience a magnificent tango performance.

We will head for the Abasto district that previously was host to the big fruit and vegetable markets in Buenos Aires. The district is also famous thanks to Carlos Gardel, the tango musician and singer, who lived here most of his life.

We will enjoy a spectacular tango show at the theatre that today carries his name, Esquina Carlos Gardel.

After a three-course dinner the show starts. Tango is a genuine Argentinian creation and the show will show you how authentic tango has evolved from the early 1920 to today.

Today we think of tango as something elegant and glamorous but originally it was the working class and the brothels that pioneered it. The upper classes saw the daring moves as quite shocking. We can promise you a very special, artful and skilful show with dance, music and song.

The Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 15, Saturday, February 20 — Leave Buenos Aires for home

Today it is time to leave Argentina and South America. The tour ends after breakfast at the hotel. We will be glad to help you organise and coordinate your transfer to the airport to fit with all different flight plans, home or to continue your journey.

Day 16, Sunday, February 21 — Arrival back home

Arrival back to your home location, depending on your flight arrangements.

The program may be subject to minor modifications.

Vineyards on the hillside, Chile, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Wine tour to Argentina and Chile

Dates: February 6-21, 2016

Price per person: 4950 euro

Single room supplement: 1200 euro

Subject to changes of airport and flight taxes and changes in the dollar exchange rate.

Included in the price:

• Start point: Santiago de Chile. End point: Buenos Aires
• Transport
  • Flight Mendoza-Buenos Aires
  • Bus (*) from Santiago de Chile to Mendoza (Argentina), across the Andes
  • Bus (*) during all days of visits as described in the program
• 13 nights in hotels at 4-star and 5 -star hotels, including breakfast
• Meals (**), all meals as described in the program above, including wine, in other words:
  • 11 high quality gastronomic lunches with local specialities, including wines and tastings, in most cases as guests at wineries, or at local restaurants
  • One welcome dinner in Santiago de Chile
  • One farewell dinner including tango show in Buenos Aires
• Day excursion as per the above program, including entry fees when relevant
• All winery visits, including extensive private tastings (approx 20 in total)
• Local English speaking guide
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by BKWine’s expert guide and co-founder, Britt Karlsson (see more below)

(*) Comfortable private tourism coach.

(**) See below for more useful information on our meals.

Guiding is in English.

Not included:

• Travel to the destination and back to your home location.

You arrange your own travel to Santiago de Chile and back home from Buenos Aires (Argentina).

If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets, please contact us.

We warmly recommend spending a few days extra if you want to prolong your vacation.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 16 participants registered at the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 22.

Flights

We have chosen to not include the flights in this tour. Here’s why.

We have customers coming from many different countries, and even different continents. By allowing you to book your own flights it gives you maximum flexibility in how and when to travel.

Today it is also in many cases cheaper to buy flight tickets as an individual than as a tour operator (especially a small and highly specialised niche tour operator). We have chosen to put all our effort into creating an exceptional travel program and still keep the cost reasonable, instead of including a flight booking service and therefore have to cut corners on the on-location program. In this way, you as a travel guest, get much more value for your money we believe.

We will do all we can to make it easy for you to arrange your travel and can also put you in contact with our travel agent partner if you want more assistance with booking flights. Do contact us if you have any questions regarding flight arrangements.

Special booking and cancellation conditions

For the Chile and Argentina wine tour special booking conditions apply, different from those in our general Terms & Conditions.

Cancellation of booking can be done according to the following:

• More than 60 days before the beginning of the trip: the Traveller pays a fee equivalent to the Booking Fee.
• 46 to 60 days before the beginning of the trip: the Traveller pays a fee equivalent to 75% of the total price.
• 45 days or less before the beginning of the trip: the Traveller pays the full fee.

Please note: BKWine does not sell “cancellation insurance” or “travel insurance”. We advise you to contact you regular insurer or a travel insurance specialist.

Book This Trip

Book before: October 15, 2015

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 950 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest 60 days before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

v.14.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

One of Chile’s famous winemakers, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45″). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

Bordeaux, a classic wine tour destination! Luxurious châteaux and ambitious winemakers!

— In Bordeaux you find world famous châteaux and world famous wines but also a lot of new exciting initiatives – less famous but maybe more important for the future of Bordeaux! – and young enthusiastic wine makers. On this trip we will visit both some big, famous Grand Cru Class chateaux and smaller ones that are less known, but very quality conscious. We will visit the well-known regions like Medoc and Saint-Emilion, but also rising-stars among the regions, like Entre-deux-Mers. We will learn about viticulture, vinification and vintages and after this trip you will know quite a lot about what’s going on in Bordeaux.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

An elegant Bordeaux wine cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Over three full days we will travel around the Bordeaux wine region and visit both prestigious chateaux and smaller family-owned estates.

There will probably be a lot of harvesting going on and we will have a golden opportunity to see what happens both in the vineyard and in the cellar during this important season.

In all the châteaux we will get private tastings together with the people who are involved in the wine making and who are delighted to share with us their passion for fine wine.

We will stay four nights in the city of Bordeaux, an elegant and very beautiful city of just over half a million people. In the evenings you will have the possibility to explore Bordeaux, the sights and the many restaurants, at your leisure.

The city of Bordeaux is on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. You can read more about it in our City Guide to Bordeaux.

We will meet in Bordeaux, which is easy to reach. Bordeaux has its own airport and it is only 3 hours away from Paris by TGV-train. You will arrive on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning our bus will pick us up for our first visits in the vineyards. Sunday is departure day.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides. This exclusive tour has a maximum 8 participants so you will indeed feel very privileged.

Place de la Bourse and the Miroir d’Eau fountain, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about Bordeaux and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Bordeaux wine region.

You can also find more information on the wines from Bordeaux on BKWine Magazine.

Here are a few videos from winery visits in Bordeaux:

Programme — Bordeaux wine tour

Preliminary program.

Contact BKWine for more details.

Program overview

• Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Bordeaux
• Day 2, Thursday — The Medoc, where chateau-palaces line the road
• Day 3, Friday — Entre deux Mers, Graves and Sauternes
• Day 4, Saturday — Saint Emilion, Fronsac, Pomerol
• Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday, April 20 — Arrival in Bordeaux

Arrival in Bordeaux. Check in at our 3-star hotel, located in the city centre.

A classical chateau in Bordeaux

Bordeaux city is the centre of the Bordelais wine trade. But today you see more of beautifully renovated renaissance or baroque mansions, luxurious boutiques and university students than wine warehouses.

Bordeaux is without a doubt one of France’s most elegant cities, where it lies along the banks of the Garonne River. What used to be warehouses and parking places have been transformed into a myriad of cafés, wine bars, and restaurants. Here you can find everything from Michelin starred places to friendly neighbourhood bistros.

The two things one absolutely must do is to explore The Old Town and go for a stroll along the river and see the Place de la Bourse when evening is falling!

Evening is free to explore the city. Perhaps you will start with an aperitif at a wine bar? Why not try a Lillet, a spicy and fragrant wine-based drink “invented” by the brothers Paul and Raymond Lillet in 1872? It is still made in the same location where they started! It was made famous also by its appearance together with James Bond in Casino Royale. We will be happy to share with you some of our favourite addresses!

Late afternoon aperitif at a bistro, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday, April 21 — The Medoc

Our bus will pick us up at our hotel after breakfast. We will spend the day in Medoc, home to many of the big châteaux names and famous for its wines made primarily of cabernet sauvignon.

A magnificent oriental chateau facade, copyright BKWine Photography

Here in the Medoc the vines grow on a narrow strip of land along the Gironde estuary, sheltered from the rain and winds from the Atlantic Ocean by the Landes pine forest.

We will drive along the route des chateaux that leads north. This is a spectacular journey along an almost unreal road. The magnificent chateaux, some are virtual palaces, are dotted along the road like a string of pearls.

Our bus will take us through the villages of Margaux, Saint-Julien and Pauillac and up to Saint-Estephe and we will see many beautiful and famous chateaux on the way.

You will see many famous wine estates (winery is too humble a word) where the cabernet sauvignon grape dominate in the vineyards. The terrain is gently rolling hills, the best vineyards have a view over the river.

Grapes on the vine, ripe and ready for harvest, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit three different chateaux, both impressively big and smaller family owned ones.

At lunch time we will make a visit to a magnificent family-owned chateau.

We will first have a private tour of the cellar.

If timing coincides with the harvest we will see the extremely diligent sorting of the grapes that is done at “grape reception”, a key element in producing top quality wine.

This is followed by a wine tasting and a lunch. The lunch is quite exceptional, a gastronomic meal that is on par with many a luxury restaurant, the only difference being that you can enjoy it at a chateau, in the calm luxury of their dining room. And you will taste several of their own wines with the different courses.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. A walk along the river is a must. At dusk the famous miroir d’eau, the water mirror, at the Place de la Bourse is at its most spectacular. You can also find many excellent restaurants along the newly redesigned river walk.

Chateau entrance, Bordeaux, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday, April 22 — Entre-deux-Mers, Graves and Sauternes

We board the bus after breakfast to cross the river Garonne for our visit in Entre-deux-Mers. In the afternoon we will taste some of the world’s best sweet white wines in Sauternes.

Topping up a wine barrel, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit the vineyards and learn how to pick grapes and how to know when they are ripe enough to be picked.

In the cellar we will talk about fermentation, blending, oak ageing and different decisions that the wine maker has to take during the year.

After the visit you will be invited to sit down for a delicious winery buffet with local specialities at the winery. With that we will taste the chateaux’s own wines.

After lunch we will drive through Entre-deux-Mers. We will cross the Garonne again, but further south, we will go through Graves and we will end up in Sauternes.

We are going to visit one of the grand chateaux in this region, well known for its sweet wines made from noble rot. We will learn how these magnificent wines are made, a process that is quite complicated. We will also taste a few different vintages.

Tasting wine in a vaulted barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

If the vintage has progressed as normal and is not late we will take a look at the vineyards and see the early stages of this “noble rot” that produces there extraordinary wines. It is quite an incredible sight to see, the shrivelled sweet grapes.

The production of these exclusive wines is painstaking. The grape pickers go over each parcel of vines several times to make sure that only the best grapes are picked.

The yield (the amount of wine produced per hectare) is tiny: less than half of what is normal for other wines, not with noble rot. Considering all these luscious wines really do seem quite affordable.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. Free evening. There are still many restaurants and wine bars to discover. With dessert it is surely time for a glass of sauternes!

Saturday, April 23 — Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol

Today we cross both rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne. We will visit the right bank, rive droite, of Bordeaux: Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol.

Grapes with noble rot just harvested, copyright BKWine Photography

The landscape is hillier here than in the Medoc and the châteaux are smaller. This is also where you will find the most expensive wines of Bordeaux!

We will visit, among other chateaux, the lovely Château de la Dauphine in Fronsac. The chateau has been beautifully restored and the wine cellar is ultra-modern. The wines are well structured and classic in style.

We will also visit famous Chateau Franc-Mayne where we will also have the opportunity to admire the magnificent limestone cellar and to taste some older vintages.

Our lunch this day will be at Château Troplong Mondot, a prestigious 1er Grand Cru Classé. They recently opened a restaurant next to the cellar, called Les Belles Perdrix. Here we will enjoy a 3 course meal with the wines of the château.

We will also have time for a stroll in the picturesque town of Saint Emilion before our afternoon visit. Saint Emilion is a wonderful medieval small town on the World Heritage list of UNESCO.

Early evening come back to our hotel in Bordeaux. The rest of the evening is free to make more discoveries in the city centre. Perhaps a walk in the Old Town. The beautiful façades are a must to see!

Wine barrels in the cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Sunday, April 24 — Heading back home

Tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

Vineyards in Saint Emilion, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Bordeaux wine tour

Dates: 20-24 April 2016

Price per person: 1520 euro

Single room supplement: 200 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast:
  • 4 nights in the city centre of Bordeaux at 3-star Hotel Majestic
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches including prestigious wines; at least 2 of the lunches at a wine chateaux
• Start and end point: Bordeaux
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Interpretation from French as needed, though some visits may be in English
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

This trip is limited to only 8 participants.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Bordeaux yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

Bordeaux has an international airport that you can fly to. But if you want to spend a few extra days in for example Paris it is easy and fast to take the train between Paris and Bordeaux. It takes about 3 hours from Paris Montparnasse or around 4 hours from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Train tickets are released for sale three months before the travel date. It is easy to book train tickets on the internet. Book train ticket in French here or book trains in English here.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered at the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 8.

Book This Trip

Book before: January 15, 2016

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 300 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

v.14.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

A winemaker tasting her wine, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45”). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

The Douro Valley Wine Tour: an exclusive tour along a magnificent wine river

— A luxurious wine tour with spectacular views. Many wine regions lie along a famous river. But the Douro in Portugal is the most spectacular of them all! The landscape is dramatic and beautiful. The vines grow on break-neck slopes. We will enjoy two nights in the newest and most luxurious hotel along the Douro, a gem of calm and comfort. During the trip we will get to know both the classic port wines and the more modern “table” wines that today reach world class. As well enjoy Portuguese gastronomy.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

Vineyards along the river, copyright BKWine Photography

In this stunning landscape along the Douro River in northern Portugal the vines grip the steep slopes with their fingernails, often with the help of narrow terraces. In summer it is very hot and dry, autumn is often lovely. The grapes will be transformed into the famous port wine but more and more also into “table” wine.

The new generation of winegrowers in the Douro valley have in a few decades gained a reputation for making excellent, world-class non-fortified “table” wines. It is difficult today to make a living only from port and it turns out that the climate and the soil is also perfect for table wines, both reds and whites.

From its source in Spain 300 miles east, where it is called the Duero, the Douro River flows west and joins the Atlantic in Porto. Already in Spain it is the source of several wines but it is when it flows into Portugal that it becomes the origin of one of the world’s most famous wines, here in the Douro Valley.

The river landscape is spectacular and wild, but it has been tamed by wine growers many hundred years back. It used to be a dangerous and violent river but since a handful of dams were built in the mid-twentieth century it is now a calm waterway. There are no longer the old-fashioned barcos rabelos transporting wine from the quinta on the water down to Porto. Instead you see cruise ships today.

Cais da Estiva, Porto, Portugal, copyright BKWine Photography

We will drive up from Porto on winding roads, over the mountains with breath-taking views and into the wine districts.

We will get to know both the port wines and the red table wines of the region, and even a few whites. But calling these wines “table” wines may give the wrong impression. They are very serious wines with high ambitions.

The vineyards are very difficult to work and making wine here is a tough task. Making simple wines would hardly be worthwhile here. The winemakers focus on top-quality blends in order to gain international reputation. Which they have done successfully.

It is good to see that many of the wines are made from genuine Portuguese grape varieties, rather than from international grapes that can be found anywhere in the world today. We will get to know wines made from touriga nacional, tinta roriz, touriga franca, sousa and others. Very exciting wines.

As demand for port is decreasing, more and more red table wine is being made. And the producers are discovering the enormous potential their grapes have for full bodied and tasty table wines. This mix of port and high quality table wine makes the Douro Valley a very exciting wine region to visit.

The tour starts in Porto (sometimes called Oporto). It is one of the biggest cities in Portugal although it does not count more than 200,000 inhabitants. The city centre is a gem, very old and winding streets climb the hills with many architectural sights as well as a wealth of restaurant, bars and cafes. You arrive in Porto on the Wednesday.

View over the river from a hotel room, copyright BKWine Photography

Porto is on the UNESCO list of Cultural World Heritage and a must to visit. Our hotel is centrally located with only a short walk down to the old harbour. An evening walk and a glass of port while enjoying the view across the river over the sister city of Vila Nova de Gaia cannot be avoided. It is actually in Vila Nova, and not in Porto, where all the port houses have their lodges. If you have the possibility we do recommend that you spend a day or two extra in Porto.

On the Thursday morning our bus will pick us up at the hotel and we will start our journey into the Douro Valley, up the river. We will spend the following two nights in Alto Douro, the heart of the valley. Our hotel is a “small luxury hotel” along the river. We will spend two nights here as well as have two dinners together.

Saturday evening we are back in Porto where we will spend our last night.

Our visits will be a mixture of big houses and small family producers. We visit 2 or 3 producers every day – travel is slow in the Douro on the narrow and winding roads. We will focus both on port wines and on table wines.

We will also have ample opportunities to get to know the traditional Portuguese food, a gastronomy of its own. Cooking is often traditionally rustic but high class cuisine has also arrived in the Douro Valley. We will enjoy three lunches together as guest on the vineyards. On the Thursday and Friday evening we will also be enjoying two gastronomic dinners together.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.

Douro landscape and vineyards a rainy and sunny day, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about the Douro Valley and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Douro Valley.

You can also find more information on the Douro Valley wines on BKWine Magazine.

Program — Douro Valley wine tour

Preliminary programme.

For more details, contact BKWine.

Program overview

• Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Porto
• Day 2, Thursday — Between Pinhao and Regua
• Day 3, Friday — High up in the upper Douro
• Day 4, Saturday — Tradition and modernity in the Douro
• Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday, October 12 — arrival in Porto

Arrival in Porto. Check-in at our hotel in the city centre. It is a comfortable hotel within walking distance of most sights.

A boat on the Douro river in the Porto harbour, copyright BKWine Photography

You can go for a walk, not very far, down to the river bank and look at the view over Vila Nova de Gaia where all the traditional port lodges of the big brands are located: Taylor’s, Sandeman, Dow’s, Ferreira, Croft, Ramos Pinto etc.

Along the river you can also see a few well-preserved samples of the traditional boats, barcos rabelos, used for transporting wines on the river.

There are plenty of restaurants and bars along the quay-side and if you want to stroll over to Vila Nova it is just a short walk across the Eiffel-inspired bridge.

The evening is free to discover Porto. One of the very best restaurants in the region is just around the corner from our hotel. Perhaps a good way to begin the tour?

Dom Luis I bridge seen from Cais da Ribeira, Porto. Na Sra da Serra do Pilar monastery, Vila Nova de Gaia, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday, October 13 — Between Pinhao and Regua

Our comfortable bus picks us up in the morning and our journey across the mountain and along the river begins.

A winery building on a hilltop with terraced vineyards all around

The road along the Douro River is slow and winding and to get a good start we take the motorway to Vila Real and Peso da Regua. From there we will go along the river more slowly, into the Alto Douro, the heart of the district. When we arrive there and you see it you will understand why this is on the UNESCO list of Cultural World Heritage!

This day we will visit some top quality wine producers who have invested heavily in recent years to gain world reputation not only for the port wines but also for the table wines.

The grape must destined to become port is often fermented in lagares, the traditional shallow stone troughs. Sometimes they are equipped with computer controlled pigeage, mechanical feet that replicates the stomping of human feet. But many producers still do tread the grapes with “real” people!

We visit the Quinta do Infantado, a family winery making top quality wines with a lot of personality. The vineyards are farmed organically and the winemaking is very artisanal. It is the Roseira family who owns it since the mid 19th century.

Old oak vats with aging wine

Between the morning visit and the afternoon visit we stop for lunch at the charming Quinta de la Rosa, owned by the Bergqvist family. They have a beautiful view over the river and we will taste their home-cooked food, regional specialities, vegetables from the garden and their own olive oil.

The Bergkvist family has 55 hectares of vineyards and recently celebrated their centenary as a port wine producer. With a name like that they are of course of Swedish origin but that is several generations back.

Late afternoon we will arrive at our hotel, between the towns of Regua and Pinhao. After check-in you can go for a walk along the river or perhaps for a swim in the pool, or just relax. Later in the evening we will sit down for a gastronomic dinner at the restaurant, ending with a port wine, of course!

The view over the river and vineyards from Quinta do Tedo in the Douro Valley, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday, October 14 — Up, far into the Douro valley

After breakfast we will continue our tour along the beautiful river to reach Santo Adrião .

Table set for lunch and a wine tasting, copyright BKWine Photography

After a few kilometres along the river we arrive at Quinta de Tedo, owned by the Frenchman Vincent Bouchard (with family ties to Bouchard Pere & Fils in Burgundy) and his American wife Kay. They bought this 250 year old property, including 14 ha of vineyards, in 1992.

After a visit to the cellar and a thorough tasting we sit down for a traditional lunch. We will of course taste the range of wines from the winery along the food, including some delicious ports, and we will taste their very exclusive olive oil.

After lunch we head upstream towards Sao Joao da Pesqueira where we will visit Quinta de Sra. do Rosario, perhaps better known as Quevedo Wines. Oscar Quevedo and his family have some 100 ha of vineyards in Cima Corgo and Douro Superior.

Quevedo Wines makes both table wine and port, including some very exclusive tawny (barrel aged) ports. We will taste a series of older and older tawnies. Oscar started his career working in finance in Madrid and Geneva but has come back to the Douro some years back and is now working with his sister to develop the family winery.

Oscar is still only around 30 but has already created a name for Quevedo Wines all over the world. Being young he has a talent for “social media” on the internet which certainly helps. It will be an interesting visit that will give you an insight into both wines and marketing.

Late afternoon we return to the hotel and have some time to relax before it is time for our dinner. We will walk across the street to the Restaurant DOC, the most talked-about restaurant in the region and one of the very best in all of Portugal. The talented chef and owner is Rui Paula. We will have a magnificent tasting menu and exciting local wines that will perfectly match the food.

Vineyards along the river, copyright BKWine Photography

Saturday, October 15 — Tradition and modernity in the Douro Valley

We will leave our hotel in the morning and slowly begin our slow journey back to Porto. You must never be in a hurry in the Douro Valley!

The Douro River with terraced vineyards and a riverside village, copyright BKWine Photography

We have a busy day including one of the biggest and most famous producers in the valley, Quinta de Seixo, owned by Sogrape, the biggest wine company in Portugal.

The winery is on a hilltop with a breath-taking view over terraced vineyards and over two rivers. Getting there we have to follow a sinuous road that makes you grip tightly to the bus seat.

Here is where the grapes for the famous Sandeman port is grown. Quinta de Seixo is a beautiful winery with a recently rebuilt cellar where mechanical feet do the treading of the grapes. It is all very modern thanks to recent investments made in the facilities. We will also have time for a walk in the vineyard to see close-up the impressive terraces.

We will stay for lunch on the hilltop at Quinta de Seixo, enjoying the view, their wines and their ports. It is difficult to get enough of it, not least the view!

Autumn colours in the steep terraced vineyard

On our way back towards Porto we will make a stop at a quinta that is a pioneer in the Douro in several ways, for example in making table wines.

They were one of the first to gain international recognition for their non-fortified wines, but also their port wines are of world-class. They are also pioneering a trend towards slightly drier port wines, more adapted to modern tastes and more emphasising the fruit and the elegance.

Early evening we arrive back in Porto for a last night. The evening is free to discover the restaurants and night life of Porto.

We are happy to share with you our best restaurant addresses! Perhaps a stroll along the quay side, or a walk across the “Eiffel Bridge” to Vila Nova an all the water-front restaurants? Or a short trip to the coast and a visit to one of the fish restaurants? There is plenty to do in Porto.

Cais da Ribeira, Porto, Portugal, copyright BKWine Photography

Sunday, October 16 — Heading back home

The tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

In the wine cellar at Quinta do Tedo in the Douro Valley, copyright BKWine Photography

Tour Details — Wine tour to the Douro Valley in Portugal

Dates: October 12-16, 2016

Price per person: 1450 euro

Single room supplement: 150 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast
  • 2 nights in Porto
  • 2 nights in the upper Douro Valley
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches, including wines, at wineries or local restaurants
  • 1 gastronomic multi-course dinner, including wines
  • 1 luxurious gastronomic star-chef multi-course tasting dinner, including wines
• Start and end point: Porto
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Visits will be in English
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Porto yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 10 participants registered at the “book before” date.

Book This Tour

Book before: July 1, 2016

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 300 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

v.14.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

Sandra Tavares da Silva, owner-winemaker at Wine & Soul, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45”). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

Bordeaux, a classic wine tour destination! Luxurious châteaux and ambitious winemakers!

— In Bordeaux you find world famous châteaux and world famous wines but also a lot of new exciting initiatives – less famous but maybe more important for the future of Bordeaux! – and young enthusiastic wine makers. On this trip we will visit both some big, famous Grand Cru Class chateaux and smaller ones that are less known, but very quality conscious. We will visit the well-known regions like Medoc and Saint-Emilion, but also rising-stars among the regions, like Entre-deux-Mers. We will learn about viticulture, vinification and vintages and after this trip you will know quite a lot about what’s going on in Bordeaux.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

An elegant Bordeaux wine cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Over three full days we will travel around the Bordeaux wine region and visit both prestigious chateaux and smaller family-owned estates.

There will probably be a lot of harvesting going on and we will have a golden opportunity to see what happens both in the vineyard and in the cellar during this important season.

In all the châteaux we will get private tastings together with the people who are involved in the wine making and who are delighted to share with us their passion for fine wine.

We will stay four nights in the city of Bordeaux, an elegant and very beautiful city of just over half a million people. In the evenings you will have the possibility to explore Bordeaux, the sights and the many restaurants, at your leisure.

The city of Bordeaux is on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. You can read more about it in our City Guide to Bordeaux.

We will meet in Bordeaux, which is easy to reach. Bordeaux has its own airport and it is only 3 hours away from Paris by TGV-train. You will arrive on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning our bus will pick us up for our first visits in the vineyards. Sunday is departure day.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides. This exclusive tour has a maximum 8 participants so you will indeed feel very privileged.

Place de la Bourse and the Miroir d’Eau fountain, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about Bordeaux and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Bordeaux wine region.

You can also find more information on the wines from Bordeaux on BKWine Magazine.

Here are a few videos from winery visits in Bordeaux:

Programme — Bordeaux wine tour

Preliminary program.

Contact BKWine for more details.

Program overview

• Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Bordeaux
• Day 2, Thursday — The Medoc, where chateau-palaces line the road
• Day 3, Friday — Entre deux Mers, Graves and Sauternes
• Day 4, Saturday — Saint Emilion, Fronsac, Pomerol
• Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday, September 28 — Arrival in Bordeaux

Arrival in Bordeaux. Check in at our 3-star hotel, located in the city centre.

A classical chateau in Bordeaux

Bordeaux city is the centre of the Bordelais wine trade. But today you see more of beautifully renovated renaissance or baroque mansions, luxurious boutiques and university students than wine warehouses.

Bordeaux is without a doubt one of France’s most elegant cities, where it lies along the banks of the Garonne River. What used to be warehouses and parking places have been transformed into a myriad of cafés, wine bars, and restaurants. Here you can find everything from Michelin starred places to friendly neighbourhood bistros.

The two things one absolutely must do is to explore The Old Town and go for a stroll along the river and see the Place de la Bourse when evening is falling!

Evening is free to explore the city. Perhaps you will start with an aperitif at a wine bar? Why not try a Lillet, a spicy and fragrant wine-based drink “invented” by the brothers Paul and Raymond Lillet in 1872? It is still made in the same location where they started! It was made famous also by its appearance together with James Bond in Casino Royale. We will be happy to share with you some of our favourite addresses!

Late afternoon aperitif at a bistro, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday, September 29 — The Medoc

Our bus will pick us up at our hotel after breakfast. We will spend the day in Medoc, home to many of the big châteaux names and famous for its wines made primarily of cabernet sauvignon.

A magnificent oriental chateau facade, copyright BKWine Photography

Here in the Medoc the vines grow on a narrow strip of land along the Gironde estuary, sheltered from the rain and winds from the Atlantic Ocean by the Landes pine forest.

We will drive along the route des chateaux that leads north. This is a spectacular journey along an almost unreal road. The magnificent chateaux, some are virtual palaces, are dotted along the road like a string of pearls.

Our bus will take us through the villages of Margaux, Saint-Julien and Pauillac and up to Saint-Estephe and we will see many beautiful and famous chateaux on the way.

You will see many famous wine estates (winery is too humble a word) where the cabernet sauvignon grape dominate in the vineyards. The terrain is gently rolling hills, the best vineyards have a view over the river.

Grapes on the vine, ripe and ready for harvest, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit three different chateaux, both impressively big and smaller family owned ones.

At lunch time we will make a visit to a magnificent family-owned chateau.

We will first have a private tour of the cellar.

If timing coincides with the harvest we will see the extremely diligent sorting of the grapes that is done at “grape reception”, a key element in producing top quality wine.

This is followed by a wine tasting and a lunch. The lunch is quite exceptional, a gastronomic meal that is on par with many a luxury restaurant, the only difference being that you can enjoy it at a chateau, in the calm luxury of their dining room. And you will taste several of their own wines with the different courses.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. A walk along the river is a must. At dusk the famous miroir d’eau, the water mirror, at the Place de la Bourse is at its most spectacular. You can also find many excellent restaurants along the newly redesigned river walk.

Chateau entrance, Bordeaux, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday, September 30 — Entre-deux-Mers, Graves and Sauternes

We board the bus after breakfast to cross the river Garonne for our visit in Entre-deux-Mers. In the afternoon we will taste some of the world’s best sweet white wines in Sauternes.

Topping up a wine barrel, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit the vineyards and learn how to pick grapes and how to know when they are ripe enough to be picked.

In the cellar we will talk about fermentation, blending, oak ageing and different decisions that the wine maker has to take during the year.

After the visit you will be invited to sit down for a delicious winery buffet with local specialities at the winery. With that we will taste the chateaux’s own wines.

After lunch we will drive through Entre-deux-Mers. We will cross the Garonne again, but further south, we will go through Graves and we will end up in Sauternes.

We are going to visit one of the grand chateaux in this region, well known for its sweet wines made from noble rot. We will learn how these magnificent wines are made, a process that is quite complicated. We will also taste a few different vintages.

Tasting wine in a vaulted barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

If the vintage has progressed as normal and is not late we will take a look at the vineyards and see the early stages of this “noble rot” that produces there extraordinary wines. It is quite an incredible sight to see, the shrivelled sweet grapes.

The production of these exclusive wines is painstaking. The grape pickers go over each parcel of vines several times to make sure that only the best grapes are picked.

The yield (the amount of wine produced per hectare) is tiny: less than half of what is normal for other wines, not with noble rot. Considering all these luscious wines really do seem quite affordable.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. Free evening. There are still many restaurants and wine bars to discover. With dessert it is surely time for a glass of sauternes!

Saturday, October 1 — Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol

Today we cross both rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne. We will visit the right bank, rive droite, of Bordeaux: Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol.

Grapes with noble rot just harvested, copyright BKWine Photography

The landscape is hillier here than in the Medoc and the châteaux are smaller. This is also where you will find the most expensive wines of Bordeaux!

We will visit, among other chateaux, the lovely Château de la Dauphine in Fronsac. The chateau has been beautifully restored and the wine cellar is ultra-modern. The wines are well structured and classic in style.

We will also visit famous Chateau Franc-Mayne where we will also have the opportunity to admire the magnificent limestone cellar and to taste some older vintages.

Our lunch this day will be at Château Troplong Mondot, a prestigious 1er Grand Cru Classé. They recently opened a restaurant next to the cellar, called Les Belles Perdrix. Here we will enjoy a 3 course meal with the wines of the château.

We will also have time for a stroll in the picturesque town of Saint Emilion before our afternoon visit. Saint Emilion is a wonderful medieval small town on the World Heritage list of UNESCO.

Early evening come back to our hotel in Bordeaux. The rest of the evening is free to make more discoveries in the city centre. Perhaps a walk in the Old Town. The beautiful façades are a must to see!

Wine barrels in the cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Sunday, October 2 — Heading back home

Tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

Vineyards in Saint Emilion, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Bordeaux wine tour

Dates: September 28 – October 2, 2016

Price per person: 1520 euro

Single room supplement: 200 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast:
  • 4 nights in the city centre of Bordeaux at 3-star Hotel Majestic
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches including prestigious wines; at least 2 of the lunches at a wine chateaux
• Start and end point: Bordeaux
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Interpretation from French as needed, though some visits may be in English
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

This trip is limited to only 8 participants.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Bordeaux yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

Bordeaux has an international airport that you can fly to. But if you want to spend a few extra days in for example Paris it is easy and fast to take the train between Paris and Bordeaux. It takes about 3 hours from Paris Montparnasse or around 4 hours from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Train tickets are released for sale three months before the travel date. It is easy to book train tickets on the internet. Book train ticket in French here or book trains in English here.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered at the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 8.

Book This Trip

Book before: June 15, 2016

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 300 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

v.14.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

A winemaker tasting her wine, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45”). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

Champagne wine tour: luxury and gastronomy on the highest level

— Nothing else in the world of wine brings out the festive feeling as champagne does. But on this wine tour we will discover that champagne is so much more than a drink just for celebrations. It is above all a very exclusive and delicious wine! There is nothing that can match discovering and experiencing this exclusive wine and the regions elegant gastronomy on location yourself!

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

Degorging a bottle of Champagne, copyright BKWine Photography

The world has many sparkling wines but there is only one regon, some 75 miles east of Paris, which can call its wines champagne.

During the four days in Champagne you will get an intimate understanding of what this sparkling wine is and why champagne is so unique. What makes champagne different from other sparkling wines? What is the terroir and the soil? Why is the northern climate so important? How do you “disgorge” the bottles? You will get answers to all this and much more.

The harvest has, most likely, been finished a little bit earlier in the season. The wine is fermenting in the cellars. People are busy preparing for the finishing touches.

This wine tour will have a mix of visits to the big and famous champagne “houses”, that blend wines from different growers, and visits at small independent growers that only make wine from their own vineyards.

Most well-known champagne brands come from a handful of very large wineries (houses). We will primarily focus on smaller, more exclusive and quality oriented producers on this trip. Some may be familiar to you as boutique wineries and some that you have perhaps never heard of although they make outstanding wines. Another “secret” of champagne to bring with you home and share with your friends!

Champagne as aperitif to start lunch

Most of our lunches, if not all, will be together with the growers. This will give you excellent opportunities to explore how best to match champagne with food and how an all-champagne meal works (you will have several).

The most famous champagnes come from the three districts surrounding Epernay and Reims: Vallée de la Marne, Montagne de Reims and Côte des Blancs. You will get to know them all.

We meet the first evening Reims, located 95 miles straight east of Paris. In the city you can find some of the famous houses, such as Pommery with its Tudor-style mansion-winery, Taittinger, Veuve-Clicquot, Ruinart, Krug, Roederer and Mumm, just to mention a few.

The Reims cathedral is one of the most beautiful and impressive in France and is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. It has survived much trouble since it was built in the 13th century, not least the bombings of the First World War. The stained glass windows are magnificent and you should not miss the modern ones by Chagall.

You arrange for your own travel to Reims (it is only a 45 minute trip with the high speed train from Paris) and arrive at the latest in the evening of the initial day.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.

Vineyards in Champagne, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about Champagne and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Champagne wine region.

You can also find more information on the wines from Champagne on BKWine Magazine.

Program — Champagne wine tour

Preliminary program.

For more details, contact BKWine.

Program overview

• Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Champagne
• Day 2, Thursday — Southern Montagne de Reims
• Day 3, Friday — Côte des Blancs
• Day 4, Saturday — The Big Houses, and organic champagne
• Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday, September 14 — Arrival in Champagne

You arrive in Reims and check in at our centrally located hotel. It is easy to get from Paris (Gare de l’Est) to Reims. The trip takes about forty-five minutes and there is a train almost every hour.

Wine aging in big oak casks in the cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Reims is a town with around 200 000 inhabitants. It is a lively and pleasant and you will find a lot of good restaurants and, of course, wine and champagne bars.

The Cathedrale Notre Dame de Reims is one of the most beautiful in France. Although it was much damages in the First World War much of it was miraculously saved.

Many champagne houses are based in Reims, for instance Pommery, Krug and Veuve Clicquot. Under the city there are kilometres and kilometres of underground cellars, dug out of the chalk rock. The oldest are said to date back to Roman times.

The Houses, hillsides and cellars in Champagne is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage.

Champagne is a drink filled with prestige and you can tell from the “wineries” that image is important in this wine region. They often look more like palaces than like wine making places. There are plenty of restaurant and some wine bars.

Thousands of champagne bottles in the cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday, September 15 — Southern Montagne de Reims

After breakfast our driver picks us up at the hotel. We drive south through the magnificent Montagne de Reims with its sloping hills, known for the excellent pinot noir grapes that grow here.

Your glass of champagne is served, copyright BKWine Photography

In the morning we visit a small grower who explains in detail the peculiar vinification and production process of champagne: why the harvest always is manual, the special way to press the grapes, the magic of the “second fermentation etc..

We continue south and have stop at another small and very exclusive “house” where we will have a delicious gourmet lunch with a selection of the best champagnes that the producer has to offer.

We will finish lunch with a short walk to one of the most mythical vineyards in the region, with perfect terroir and micro-climate, to regain our energy! A 5 hectare big vineyards, closed by a stone wall, in one of the best locations in all of Champagne. A steep slope, looking south, over the river Marne. It is the pride of this producer!

In the afternoon we will visit a family-run champagne producer that produces excellent champagnes with a substantial portion of pinot noir in the blend. This gives wines with fuller body and more power than normally expected in a champagne.

He will also explain the importance of blending when making champagne. The blending is a unique aspect of making champagne that exists in almost no other wine district.

Late afternoon we return to Reims.

The evening is free. Perhaps a light dinner after our magnificent lunch… Unless you want to try one of the excellent restaurants in the city.

View over the vineyards and a village in Champagne, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday, September 16 — Côte des Blancs

After breakfast we board the bus and go south, to Côte des Blancs, the district just south of Epernay.

In the wine cellar at Champagne Benoit Marguet, copyright BKWine Photography

Côte des Blancs is known for its vineyards with chardonnay. Here you will find famous and picturesque Grand Cru villages like Mesnil-sur-Oger, Cramant and Avize. Many of the growers make blanc de blancs, a wine made exclusively from chardonnay.

We will visit a small and exclusive grower in Mesnil-sur-Oger. It is a family winery, but bigger than most. They have 18 hectares of vineyards mainly in Mesnil and in the neighbouring villages. The only use their own grapes in the wine making producing wines with much finesse and concentration.

We stay in Mesnil-sur-Oger for lunch and then we head north, towards Reims. We will pass through the Montagne de Reims district that is famous for its excellent and sought-after pinot noir grapes.

We will make a stop in the village of Vrigny just south of Reims to visit one of the top growers. It is a friendly family winery with 10 hectares of land split up into 70 different plots! They age their “base wine” in oak barrels before bottling and let the wines age for a long time before releasing them.

Early evening we are back in Reims. The evening is free. You can relax and perhaps go for a stroll in the town in search for a glass of champagne. Should not be too hard to find!

Champagne corks in a silver bowl, copyright BKWine Photography

Saturday, September 17 — The Big Houses, and organic champagne

We will start the day in the city of Reims itself, where some of the “Big Houses” have their offices and cellars. So to morning bus ride is short.

Technical tasting of aged champagne, copyright BKWine Photography

Our first visit today is at one of the big and famous houses. There is a handful of them who have made Champagne famous around the world, thanks to a long history, delicious champagnes and big marketing budgets.

First we go underground. The impressive underground cellars, the oldest dating from Roman times, where millions of bottles are ageing, is something you must see while in Champagne. After our chalk tunnel walk it is time to taste the champagnes of this famous house.

We will continue up to the famous Grand Cru villages Verzy and Verzenay in the Montagne de Reims. Our first stop will be to admire the beautiful view over the vast vineyards from the “mountain”.

Our lunch will feature some of the classic cuisine champenoise, very elegant with top quality raw material. It will be accompanied again by a selection of champagnes, today of the more full-bodied Montagne de Reims-style.

After lunch we will visit a small champagne grower in Verzy, an organic wine producer. He will explain how it is possible to make great wines in the cool climate that they have in Champagne without having to spray the vines with traditional pesticides. He will of course also give us a good taste of the excellent end result, his champagnes

At the end of the day we return to Reims. Free evening.

Thousands of champagne bottles in the cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Sunday, September 18 — Heading back home

The tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

A new barrel cellar in Champagne, copyright BKWine Photography

Tour Details — wine tour in Champagne

Dates: September 14-18, 2016

Price per person: 1690 euro

Single room supplement: 200 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast, good quality mid-range European style hotel in Reims
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic lunches including champagne, of which at least two private meals at wineries
• Start and end point: Reims
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Interpretation from French as needed (some visits may be in English)
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to the destination yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered at the “book before” date.

Book This Tour

Book before: June 1, 2016

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 300 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

v.14.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

A winemaker tasting his wine, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45”). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

Bordeaux, a classic wine tour destination! Luxurious châteaux and ambitious winemakers!

— In Bordeaux you find world famous châteaux and world famous wines but also a lot of new exciting initiatives – less famous but maybe more important for the future of Bordeaux! – and young enthusiastic wine makers. On this trip we will visit both some big, famous Grand Cru Class chateaux and smaller ones that are less known, but very quality conscious. We will visit the well-known regions like Medoc and Saint-Emilion, but also rising-stars among the regions, like Entre-deux-Mers. We will learn about viticulture, vinification and vintages and after this trip you will know quite a lot about what’s going on in Bordeaux.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

An elegant Bordeaux wine cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Over three full days we will travel around the Bordeaux wine region and visit both prestigious chateaux and smaller family-owned estates.

There will probably be a lot of harvesting going on and we will have a golden opportunity to see what happens both in the vineyard and in the cellar during this important season.

In all the châteaux we will get private tastings together with the people who are involved in the wine making and who are delighted to share with us their passion for fine wine.

We will stay four nights in the city of Bordeaux, an elegant and very beautiful city of just over half a million people. In the evenings you will have the possibility to explore Bordeaux, the sights and the many restaurants, at your leisure.

The city of Bordeaux is on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. You can read more about it in our City Guide to Bordeaux.

We will meet in Bordeaux, which is easy to reach. Bordeaux has its own airport and it is only 3 hours away from Paris by TGV-train. You will arrive on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning our bus will pick us up for our first visits in the vineyards. Sunday is departure day.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides. This exclusive tour has a maximum 8 participants so you will indeed feel very privileged.

Place de la Bourse and the Miroir d’Eau fountain, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about Bordeaux and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Bordeaux wine region.

You can also find more information on the wines from Bordeaux on BKWine Magazine.

Here are a few videos from winery visits in Bordeaux:

Programme — Bordeaux wine tour

Preliminary program.

Contact BKWine for more details.

Program overview

• Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Bordeaux
• Day 2, Thursday — The Medoc, where chateau-palaces line the road
• Day 3, Friday — Entre deux Mers, Graves and Sauternes
• Day 4, Saturday — Saint Emilion, Fronsac, Pomerol
• Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday, May 3 — Arrival in Bordeaux

Arrival in Bordeaux. Check in at our 3-star hotel, located in the city centre.

A classical chateau in Bordeaux

Bordeaux city is the centre of the Bordelais wine trade. But today you see more of beautifully renovated renaissance or baroque mansions, luxurious boutiques and university students than wine warehouses.

Bordeaux is without a doubt one of France’s most elegant cities, where it lies along the banks of the Garonne River. What used to be warehouses and parking places have been transformed into a myriad of cafés, wine bars, and restaurants. Here you can find everything from Michelin starred places to friendly neighbourhood bistros.

The two things one absolutely must do is to explore The Old Town and go for a stroll along the river and see the Place de la Bourse when evening is falling!

Evening is free to explore the city. Perhaps you will start with an aperitif at a wine bar? Why not try a Lillet, a spicy and fragrant wine-based drink “invented” by the brothers Paul and Raymond Lillet in 1872? It is still made in the same location where they started! It was made famous also by its appearance together with James Bond in Casino Royale. We will be happy to share with you some of our favourite addresses!

Late afternoon aperitif at a bistro, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday, May 4 — The Medoc

Our bus will pick us up at our hotel after breakfast. We will spend the day in Medoc, home to many of the big châteaux names and famous for its wines made primarily of cabernet sauvignon.

A magnificent oriental chateau facade, copyright BKWine Photography

Here in the Medoc the vines grow on a narrow strip of land along the Gironde estuary, sheltered from the rain and winds from the Atlantic Ocean by the Landes pine forest.

We will drive along the route des chateaux that leads north. This is a spectacular journey along an almost unreal road. The magnificent chateaux, some are virtual palaces, are dotted along the road like a string of pearls.

Our bus will take us through the villages of Margaux, Saint-Julien and Pauillac and up to Saint-Estephe and we will see many beautiful and famous chateaux on the way.

You will see many famous wine estates (winery is too humble a word) where the cabernet sauvignon grape dominate in the vineyards. The terrain is gently rolling hills, the best vineyards have a view over the river.

Grapes on the vine, ripe and ready for harvest, copyright BKWine Photography

We will visit three different chateaux, both impressively big and smaller family owned ones.

At lunch time we will make a visit to a magnificent family-owned chateau.

We will first have a private tour of the cellar.

If timing coincides with the harvest we will see the extremely diligent sorting of the grapes that is done at “grape reception”, a key element in producing top quality wine.

This is followed by a wine tasting and a lunch. The lunch is quite exceptional, a gastronomic meal that is on par with many a luxury restaurant, the only difference being that you can enjoy it at a chateau, in the calm luxury of their dining room. And you will taste several of their own wines with the different courses.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. A walk along the river is a must. At dusk the famous miroir d’eau, the water mirror, at the Place de la Bourse is at its most spectacular. You can also find many excellent restaurants along the newly redesigned river walk.

Chateau entrance, Bordeaux, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday, May 5 — Graves, Pessac-Léognan and Sauternes

Today we will go south, to the regions of Pessac-Léognan, Graves and Sauternes. Pessac-Léognan and Graves are known for both red wines and dry, white wines. Sauternes makes some of the most delicious sweet wines in the world.

Grapes with noble rot just harvested, copyright BKWine Photography

Here in Sauternes we are going to visit one of the grand chateaux in the region. We will learn how these magnificent wines are made, a process that is quite complicated.

The sweetness comes from the noble rot which gives not only sugar but also a lovely taste of honey and spices to the wines.

The production of these exclusive wines is painstaking. The grape pickers go over each parcel of vines several times to make sure that only the best grapes are picked. We will taste a few different vintages to see how a Sauternes wine evolves.

We will have lunch at a grand chateaux in the Pessac-Léognan appellation. The chef here is very talented and having lunch here, in the beautiful dining room of the chateau, is like being in a Michelin star restaurant.We will taste the excellent wines for lunch of course.

Tasting wine in a vaulted barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

This château has long been living a bit in the shadow of some of the more name-famous neighbours although its wines are certainly not any lesser. It now belongs to an American banker and is slowly returning to world-wide fame.

We will have our last visit in the Graves appellation in the afternoon. At this chateau we will taste both red and white wines.

The white wines of Bordeaux are really magnificent and something of a hidden secret that should be discovered! They have almost become scarce so this is a great opportunity to taste some of the best examples.

Early evening we are back in Bordeaux. Free evening. There are still many restaurants and wine bars to discover. With dessert it is surely time for a glass of sauternes!

Saturday, May 6 — Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol

Today we cross both rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne. We will visit the right bank, rive droite, of Bordeaux: Saint Emilion, Fronsac and Pomerol.

Topping up a wine barrel, copyright BKWine Photography

The landscape is hillier here than in the Medoc and the châteaux are smaller. This is also where you will find the most expensive wines of Bordeaux!

Here we will visit small family chateaux with high ambitions. We will have the opportunity to walk in the vineyards and the winemakers will explain how they work to obtain the best grapes. This is very important for the final quality of the wines. At least one of the domains is certified organic.

For lunch we will go to a famous Grand Cru Classé with a beautiful state of the art winery. Here they also have a spectacular lime stone cellar where stone has been taken for centuries to build houses in the area. After the visit a delicious lunch will be served in the dining room of the small chateau. We will have a grillade au sarments, a typical Bordeaux way of preparing your meat.

We will also have time for a stroll in the picturesque town of Saint Emilion before our afternoon visit. Saint Emilion is a wonderful medieval small town on the World Heritage list of UNESCO.

Early evening we’re back to our hotel in Bordeaux. The rest of the evening is free to make more discoveries in the city centre. Perhaps a walk in the Old Town. The beautiful façades are a must to see!

Wine barrels in the cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Sunday, May 7 — Heading back home

Tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

Vineyards in Saint Emilion, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Bordeaux wine tour

Dates: May 3-7, 2017

Price per person: 1590 euro

Single room supplement: 200 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast:
  • 4 nights in the city centre of Bordeaux at 3-star Hotel Majestic
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic multi-course lunches including prestigious wines as guests of wine chateaux
• Start and end point: Bordeaux
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Interpretation from French as needed, though some visits may be in English
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

This trip is limited to only 8 participants.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Bordeaux yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

Bordeaux has an international airport that you can fly to. But if you want to spend a few extra days in for example Paris it is easy and fast to take the train between Paris and Bordeaux. It takes about 3 hours from Paris Montparnasse or around 4 hours from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Train tickets are released for sale three months before the travel date. It is easy to book train tickets on the internet. Book train ticket in French here or book trains in English here.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered at the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 8.

Book This Trip

Book before: February 1, 2017

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 300 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

v.14.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

A winemaker tasting her wine, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45”). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

Champagne wine tour: luxury and gastronomy on the highest level

— Nothing else in the world of wine brings out the festive feeling as champagne does. But on this wine tour we will discover that champagne is so much more than a drink just for celebrations. It is above all a very exclusive and delicious wine! There is nothing that can match discovering and experiencing this exclusive wine and the regions elegant gastronomy on location yourself!

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

Degorging a bottle of Champagne, copyright BKWine Photography

The world has many sparkling wines but there is only one region, some 75 miles east of Paris, which can call its wines champagne.

During the four days in Champagne you will get an intimate understanding of what this sparkling wine is and why champagne is so unique. What makes champagne different from other sparkling wines? What is the terroir and the soil? Why is the northern climate so important? How do you “disgorge” the bottles? You will get answers to all this and much more.

The harvest has, most likely, been finished a little bit earlier in the season. The wine is fermenting in the cellars. People are busy preparing for the finishing touches.

This wine tour will have a mix of visits to the big and famous champagne “houses”, that blend wines from different growers, and visits at small independent growers that only make wine from their own vineyards.

Most well-known champagne brands come from a handful of very large wineries (houses). We will primarily focus on smaller, more exclusive and quality oriented producers on this trip. Some may be familiar to you as boutique wineries and some that you have perhaps never heard of although they make outstanding wines. Another “secret” of champagne to bring with you home and share with your friends!

Champagne as aperitif to start lunch

Most of our lunches, if not all, will be together with the growers. This will give you excellent opportunities to explore how best to match champagne with food and how an all-champagne meal works (you will have several).

The most famous champagnes come from the three districts surrounding Epernay and Reims: Vallée de la Marne, Montagne de Reims and Côte des Blancs. You will get to know them all.

We meet the first evening Reims, located 95 miles straight east of Paris. In the city you can find some of the famous houses, such as Pommery with its Tudor-style mansion-winery, Taittinger, Veuve-Clicquot, Ruinart, Krug, Roederer and Mumm, just to mention a few.

The Reims cathedral is one of the most beautiful and impressive in France and is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. It has survived much trouble since it was built in the 13th century, not least the bombings of the First World War. The stained glass windows are magnificent and you should not miss the modern ones by Chagall.

You arrange for your own travel to Reims (it is only a 45 minute trip with the high speed train from Paris) and arrive at the latest in the evening of the initial day.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.

Vineyards in Champagne, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about Champagne and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Champagne wine region.

You can also find more information on the wines from Champagne on BKWine Magazine.

Program — Champagne wine tour

Preliminary program.

For more details, contact BKWine.

Program overview

• Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Champagne
• Day 2, Thursday — Southern Montagne de Reims
• Day 3, Friday — Côte des Blancs
• Day 4, Saturday — The Big Houses, and organic champagne
• Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday, April 19 — Arrival in Champagne

You arrive in Reims and check in at our centrally located hotel. It is easy to get from Paris (Gare de l’Est) to Reims. The trip takes about forty-five minutes and there is a train almost every hour.

Wine aging in big oak casks in the cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Reims is a town with around 200 000 inhabitants. It is a lively and pleasant and you will find a lot of good restaurants and, of course, wine and champagne bars.

The Cathedrale Notre Dame de Reims is one of the most beautiful in France. Although it was much damages in the First World War much of it was miraculously saved.

Many champagne houses are based in Reims, for instance Pommery, Krug and Veuve Clicquot. Under the city there are kilometres and kilometres of underground cellars, dug out of the chalk rock. The oldest are said to date back to Roman times.

The Houses, hillsides and cellars in Champagne is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage.

Champagne is a drink filled with prestige and you can tell from the “wineries” that image is important in this wine region. They often look more like palaces than like wine making places. There are plenty of restaurant and some wine bars.

Thousands of champagne bottles in the cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday, April 20 — Southern Montagne de Reims

After breakfast our driver picks us up at the hotel. We drive south through the magnificent Montagne de Reims with its sloping hills, known for the excellent pinot noir grapes that grow here.

Your glass of champagne is served, copyright BKWine Photography

In the morning we visit a small grower who explains in detail the peculiar vinification and production process of champagne: why the harvest always is manual, the special way to press the grapes, the magic of the “second fermentation etc..

We continue south and have stop at another small and very exclusive “house” where we will have a delicious gourmet lunch with a selection of the best champagnes that the producer has to offer.

We will finish lunch with a short walk to one of the most mythical vineyards in the region, with perfect terroir and micro-climate, to regain our energy! A 5 hectare big vineyards, closed by a stone wall, in one of the best locations in all of Champagne. A steep slope, looking south, over the river Marne. It is the pride of this producer!

In the afternoon we will visit a family-run champagne producer that produces excellent champagnes with a substantial portion of pinot noir in the blend. This gives wines with fuller body and more power than normally expected in a champagne.

He will also explain the importance of blending when making champagne. The blending is a unique aspect of making champagne that exists in almost no other wine district.

Late afternoon we return to Reims.

The evening is free. Perhaps a light dinner after our magnificent lunch… Unless you want to try one of the excellent restaurants in the city.

View over the vineyards and a village in Champagne, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday, April 21 — Côte des Blancs

After breakfast we board the bus and go south, to Côte des Blancs, the district just south of Epernay.

In the wine cellar at Champagne Benoit Marguet, copyright BKWine Photography

Côte des Blancs is known for its vineyards with chardonnay. Here you will find famous and picturesque Grand Cru villages like Mesnil-sur-Oger, Cramant and Avize. Many of the growers make blanc de blancs, a wine made exclusively from chardonnay.

We will visit a small and exclusive grower in Mesnil-sur-Oger. It is a family winery, but bigger than most. They have 18 hectares of vineyards mainly in Mesnil and in the neighbouring villages. The only use their own grapes in the wine making producing wines with much finesse and concentration.

We stay in Mesnil-sur-Oger for lunch and then we head north, towards Reims. We will pass through the Montagne de Reims district that is famous for its excellent and sought-after pinot noir grapes.

We will make a stop in the village of Vrigny just south of Reims to visit one of the top growers. It is a friendly family winery with 10 hectares of land split up into 70 different plots! They age their “base wine” in oak barrels before bottling and let the wines age for a long time before releasing them.

Early evening we are back in Reims. The evening is free. You can relax and perhaps go for a stroll in the town in search for a glass of champagne. Should not be too hard to find!

Champagne corks in a silver bowl, copyright BKWine Photography

Saturday, April 22 — The Big Houses, and organic champagne

We will start the day in the city of Reims itself, where some of the “Big Houses” have their offices and cellars. So the morning bus ride is short.

Technical tasting of aged champagne, copyright BKWine Photography

Our first visit today is at one of the big and famous houses. There is a handful of them who have made Champagne famous around the world, thanks to a long history, delicious champagnes and big marketing budgets.

First we go underground. The impressive underground cellars, the oldest dating from Roman times, where millions of bottles are ageing, is something you must see while in Champagne. After our chalk tunnel walk it is time to taste the champagnes of this famous house.

We will continue up to the famous Grand Cru villages Verzy and Verzenay in the Montagne de Reims. Our first stop will be to admire the beautiful view over the vast vineyards from the “mountain”.

Our lunch will feature some of the classic cuisine champenoise, very elegant with top quality raw material. It will be accompanied again by a selection of champagnes, today of the more full-bodied Montagne de Reims-style.

After lunch we will visit a small champagne grower in Verzy, an organic wine producer. He will explain how it is possible to make great wines in the cool climate that they have in Champagne without having to spray the vines with traditional pesticides. He will of course also give us a good taste of the excellent end result, his champagnes

At the end of the day we return to Reims. Free evening.

Thousands of champagne bottles in the cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

Sunday, April 23 — Heading back home

The tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

A new barrel cellar in Champagne, copyright BKWine Photography

Tour Details — wine tour in Champagne

Dates: April 19-23, 2017

Price per person: 1690 euro

Single room supplement: 170 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast, good quality mid-range European style hotel in Reims
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic lunches including champagne, of which at least two private meals at wineries
• Start and end point: Reims
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Interpretation from French as needed (some visits may be in English)
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to the destination yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 6 participants registered at the “book before” date. We only take a maximum of 10 persons on the tour.

Book This Tour

Book before: January 15, 2017

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 300 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

v.14.04

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

A winemaker tasting his wine, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45”). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

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Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

Four Days with the Best of Cape Golfing

— For a golfer South Africa is a perfect destination. It has world-class golf courses located in breathtakingly beautiful landscapes. Climate is warm but generally not exceedingly hot, not even in summer. The sea is never far away in Cape golf country. And it has the delicious wines and gourmet food to make it all a perfect experience. This is a four day golf experience that you can choose to begin your South African experience with, before you join the wine tour. You will have the opportunity to play on four of South Africa’s best competition grade golf courses.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book

This program is an exclusive pre-trip add-on extension option for the Wine Tour to South Africa February 24 – March 6, 2017.

Four days of exciting golf is the perfect start of the wine tour for the golf enthusiast. It allows you to settle down after your long flight to South Africa and it will show you some of the best, most challenging and most beautiful of the Capes golf courses.

The add-on tour includes two nights in Cape Town, by the Waterfront, and two days in Stellenbosch. Four extraordinary golf days are on the program, on four different courses.

It is four days of golfing that will take you to courses that are among the best that South Africa has to offer the golf enthusiast. Read more details on the four golf courses, including videos here: Four fantastic golfing days to add to your wine tour to South Africa.

Two golfers approaching the green, copyright BKWine Photography

Program — South Africa, Golf Add-on

Preliminary program. There may be minor changes to the itinerary.

For more details, contact BKWine.

Day 1, February 21 — Arrival in Cape Town and exploring the Waterfront

This day is your arrival to South Africa. A calm and relaxing day to reload your batteries after your flight for the coming days.

A colourful house in Cape Town, copyright BKWine Photography

If you are arriving on an overseas flight it is most likely an over-night flight and you will arrive in Cape Town mid-morning. On arrival at the airport you will be met by our representative and escorted to your waiting vehicle.

A short drive into the city will bring you to The Portswood Hotel, located in the famous Waterfront area. As all South African hotels have a 14h00 check in policy, we recommend exploring and having lunch in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. Just a short walk from the hotel.

The rest of the day is yours to relax, recover from the long flight and to explore this vibrant location. It is a gathering place for visitors and locals alike. With something to do for everyone – from high speed boats and helicopter flips over Cape Town to street musicians and performers – time will fly by very quickly.

This evening will be at your leisure to enjoy dinner at one of the many local restaurants. A few recommendation: Tosca de Belem, Den Anker, Harbour House, Baia, Karibu, Meloncino, Balthazar and many more.

Meals included: none.

Overnight: Cape Town Portswood Hotel

Cape Town and Table Mountain, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 2, February 22 — Golf on South Africa’s oldest course, at the foot of Table Mountain

After a good rest at your hotel you will have an early start but a short drive to your first golf experience on a golf course literally in the shadow of Table Mountain.

Sunset over the mountains, copyright BKWine Photography

Today you get straight into the swing of things with your first round of golf. We start early to have time to get you to the delicious lunch that is awaiting you after your first round.

You tee it up on the oldest golf course in South Africa, Royal Cape Golf Club. This parkland course, set in the shadow of Table Mountain, offers an enjoyable golfing adventure for players of all skill levels.

All South African golf courses have a mandatory 15 minute half way stop which gives you a chance to enjoy a nibble or some liquid refreshments, before tackling the back nine.

Royal Cape is the current host of the Lion of Africa Cape Town Open, played in November, and has hosted the South Africa Open (2nd oldest open in the world!) on no fewer than 10 occasions.

After your round we will take you to the oldest wine estate in South Africa, Steenberg Wine Estate, and enjoy lunch at Bistro 1682 (drinks on your own account). After a lazy lunch you will return to the hotel where the evening will once again be at your leisure.

(For the really dedicated golfer – who is not? – we may have the option to add an afternoon round at the Steenberg Golf Club. Please enquire with us for availability and cost at booking if you are interested.)

Meals included: breakfast and lunch (drinks on your account)

Overnight: Cape Town Portswood Hotel

The Steenberg Restaurant in Constantia, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 3, February 23 — Golf with views of the sea, the city and Robben Island

This morning you should remember checking out before leaving for the golf course. Your round today will be at a beautifully located course in the Cape close to the sea.

The coastline near Cape Town, copyright BKWine Photography

Round two in this golf extravaganza is played at one the finest coastal courses in South Africa, The Atlantic Beach Golf Estate (carts/buggy included), which officially opened for play in 2000.

This stunning 18-hole links-style course has spectacular views of the Atlantic coastline and across the bay to Table Mountain. It is also the closest point on the mainland to Robben Island.

The course meanders through undulating dunes. It is a challenging, yet fair, course which will suit both the professional and amateur golfer alike. You definitely want to remember bringing your camera today.

As you will have checked out this morning, you will head for the winelands town of Stellenbosch. After checking in you will have time to explore South Africa’s oldest town, a charming and very lively place. You will enjoy dinner at your leisure at one of the many restaurants. A few recommendation: the aptly named Wijnhuis, The Hussar Grill, Big Easy (owned by the golf legend Ernie Els) and many more.

Meals included: breakfast

Overnight: Stellenbosch at River Manor Boutique Hotel & Spa (or equivalent)

By the sea near Cape Town, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 4, February 24 — A challenging golf course, with wine and chocolate as a reward

Today you will stay in the Stellenbosch wine-lands and enjoy a challenging and beautiful golf course, followed by a wine tasting and wine and chocolate pairing.

Vineyards and mountains in Stellenbosch, South Africa, copyright BKWine Photography

A mid-morning tee off awaits you for your third round of golf today at the De Zalze Golf Estate. De Zalze was designed by South African course designer Peter Matkovich, one of the world’s leading course architects. He has made the most of this stunning setting and created a course which places a premium on accuracy.

The De Zalze Golf Course has hosted a number of championship events and was the host venue for the 2006 World Amateur Team Championships (Eisenhower and Esposito Santo trophies) which attracted teams from approximately 80 countries.

After your round you will make your way to one of the most famous wine estates in Stellenbosch, Waterford Wine Estate. Here you will enjoy a tasting of their wines and end off with a wine and chocolate pairing for the last three wines. After your tasting you return to Stellenbosch, where this evening will once again be at your leisure.

Meals included: breakfast

Overnight: Stellenbosch at River Manor Boutique Hotel & Spa (or equivalent)

Pouring wine at Waterford Wine Estate, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 5, February 25 — For the thinking golfer, a gem surrounded by mountains

Today you will take with you your packed bags before heading out to today’s course, looking deceptively easy on flat land but with unexpected challenges designed by Jack Nicklaus.

Vineyards and mountains in Stellenbosch, copyright BKWine Photography

Today you make your way to Cape Town’s jewel in the crown, the Pearl Valley Golf Estate for your fourth and final round. This Jack Nicklaus-signature design will thrill, frustrate and bewitch you.

Surrounded by the Simonsberg and Drakenstein Mountains, in the Paarl-Franschhoek Valley of course (!), you will have no choice but to agree that when God made South Africa, He definitely took His time!

Jack Nicklaus stayed true to his design principles by working closely with nature, and provided us with a wonderful golf course that fits in beautifully with the environment. The relatively flat, and largely uninterrupted, terrain enabled Nicklaus the freedom to develop a course that the golfer has to think their way around.

After your round you will return to the city, Cape Town, to meet up with the rest of the group at your Cape Town hotel. After check in you will have some time to freshen up before dinner.

Ernie Els’ Big Easy restaurant in Stellenbosch, copyright BKWine Photography

Tee times and lunches

Tee times are normally arranged for around 10h00 which means that the first 9 holes are finished around 12.15-12.30. As a rule South African golf clubs expect players to have a halfway stop to even out the field – and for players to have a light lunch.

An alternative is to have lunch at the golf club (if available) after the full golf round (in this case you need to arrange this with your driver and guide and the other players) or wait until you are back in Cape Town / Stellenbosch.

The program may be subject to minor modifications.

The restaurant team that made the experience very memorable, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Golf Add-on to Wine tour to South Africa

Dates: February 21-25, 2017

Price per person: 1280 euro

Single room supplement: 370 euro

Included in the price:

• Four nights’ accommodation (Bed & Breakfast) as specified in the itinerary
  • Cape Town, 2 nights at the Portswood Hotel
  • Stellenbosch, 2 nights at River Manor Boutique Hotel & Spa or similar (to be confirmed)
• Lunch at Steenberg Wine Estate Bistro 1682
• Wine and chocolate tasting at Waterford
• 4 golf green fees:
  • Royal Cape Golf Club
  • Atlantic Beach Golf Estate (buggies / carts included)
  • De Zalze Golf Estate
  • Pearl Valley Golf Estate (buggies / carts included)
• Transfer from Cape Town International Airport
• Return transfer to Cape Town to join the wine tour
• The services of an English-speaking qualified and accredited South African tourist guide throughout the tour (excluding free time in the afternoon)
• Transport in luxury air-conditioned vehicle (type determined by the number of participants)
• All entrance and green fees for specified and included activities
• Porterage at airport and hotels

Not included:

• Any expenses of a personal nature (telephone calls, laundry, drinks (including bottled water))
• Any additional porterage (suggested US$1 or €1 or £1 or ZAR 10 per person) and tips (recommended 10% of the bill when eating out or having drinks)
• Gratuities for drivers and guides (recommended: £3 or US$3 or €3, or the ZAR equivalent, per person per day to both your tour guide and driver. Recommended for site guides / rangers: £1 or US$1 or €1, or the ZAR equivalent per person per visit).
• Anything not specified above, or given as optional
• Personal travel and accident insurance

Please note

Guide and tour management: The golf extension is managed and guided by a local South African guide.

Minimum number: For the golf extension to be valid with the above prices a minimum of 4 participants in total is required. Please check back with BKWine.

Book This Trip

You will find full information on how to book this trip in the booking section of the South Africa Wine Tour program.

Tasting rosé wine at Rickety Bridge Winery in Franschhoek in South Africa, copyright BKWine Photography

School children on excursion, copyright BKWine Photography

The beach at Camps Bay in Cape Town, copyright BKWine Photography

A lighthouse at sea, copyright BKWine Photography

Two blesbuck antelopes on the lookout, copyright BKWine Photography

A view over Cape Point and the sea, copyright BKWine Photography

A typical Cape Dutch architecture house at a winery, copyright BKWine Photography

An Extraordinary Nature and Wildlife Experience

— After the wine tour we can offer you an extraordinary four day tour to malaria-free private game reserves in the Eastern Cape, an hour’s flight time from Cape Town.

You will get the chance to see all of the Big Five: elephant, lion, rhinoceros, buffalo and leopard (not guaranteed, of course, it is wild animals, but very likely). You will even get to know “the Big Seven” at the only game reserve that can boast them.

The tour also includes a one-hour walk with two cheetahs out in the African bush, a boat ride up the Kariega River with its amazing bird-life, a special elephant safari and a unique (and endangered) Bacchus dung beetle.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book

Safari and Wildlife Extension for the South Africa Wine Tour

This program is an exclusive post trip add-on extension option for the Wine Tour to South Africa February 24 – March 6, 2017.

Tour photos from a safari

Are you curious to know how it looks on the safari and what you will see? We have put together a page with photography from the safari. All pictures come from a stay at one of the game reserves:

Photos from a safari: Safari at a game reserve in South Africa in pictures.

More on the game reserves and the safari

This tour gives you a unique insight into the animal kingdom, nature and wildlife of South Africa. The program includes visit on several different game reserves, each with its own speciality. At one of them you will even have the opportunity to go for a walk together with cheetahs (hunting leopards) in the African bush. In total you will visit four different wildlife reserves.

Read more details on the game reserves and the safari excursions here.

Facing the leopard, copyright BKWine Photography

Program — South Africa, Safari and Wildlife Add-on

Preliminary program. There may be minor changes to the itinerary.

For more details, contact BKWine.

Day 1, Sunday, March 5 – Port Elizabeth

At the end of the wine tour, you will transfer to Cape Town International airport for your flight to Port Elizabeth (contact BKWine for flight information). When you arrive in Port Elizabeth you will be met by our local representative and escorted to the waiting touring vehicle.

Beware of the animals, and the electric fence, copyright BKWine Photography

You will then have a Port Elizabeth city tour, which includes visits to the Donkin Reserve, The Horse Memorial, the Campanile and the Summer Strand region.

You will then have a city tour, which includes visits to the Donkin Reserve, The Horse Memorial, the Campanile and the Summer Strand region. The tour will take you around to the main sites of the city.

The tour ends at your hotel that is one of Port Elizabeth’s finest family hotels, situated on Port Elizabeth’s magnificent beachfront, directly opposite Hobie Beach and next to the famous Boardwalk Casino and Entertainment Complex.

After checking into your hotel you will have some time to relax and enjoy the sun and the sea. You have the evening at your leisure to explore the Boardwalk and scout restaurants for dinner.

Meals included: breakfast

Overnight: Port Elizabeth

Elephant lunch time, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 2, Monday, March 6 – Cheeta walk, African Predators, Safari Game Drive, Big 7

After an early start from the hotel in Port Elizabeth this will be a day filled with extraordinary wildlife experiences that will get you close to some of the most fabulous African animals.

A blue Wildebeest, copyright BKWine Photography

Cheeta walk, African predators

You will have an early checkout this morning (packed breakfast) and depart for the Daniell Cheetah Project located near Kirkwood. You will experience a one-hour walk with two harness-trained cheetahs out in the African bush. Thereafter your guide will take you on the predator tour to learn more about some of the other African predators.

600 elephants, buffalo, black rhino, antelope, lion…

You then depart for the Addo Elephant National Park for lunch that will be followed by a two hour safari game drive in open 4×4 safari vehicles. Established in 1931, in order to provide a sanctuary for the eleven remaining elephants in the area, the park is now home to more than 600 elephants, 400 Cape buffalo, over 48 endangered black rhino as well as a variety of antelope species. Transvaal lion and spotted hyena have also recently been re-introduced to the area.

The extraordinary – and endangered – Bacchus dung beetle, and maybe whale and shark

The largest remaining population of the flightless dung beetle (Circellium bacchus) is located within the park. Cars are obliged to stop on the road to let the beetle pass. The park can exclusively claim to be the only national park in the world to conserve the “Big 7” – the Big 5 as well as the southern right whale and great white shark off the Algoa Bay coast. (It is not whale and shark season so sightings are unlikely, so we will not make a sea excursion.)

After your game drive you will make your way to your overnight accommodation.

Meals included: packed breakfast, lunch, dinner

Overnight: in the Addo region

A cheeta resting in the evening sun, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 3, Tuesday, March 7 – Wildlife Preservation Project, Game Drive

There are tremendous efforts made in South Africa to preserve the wildlife, both fauna and flora, and to return it to a sustainable state. You will see some exceptional examples today.

A Blue Wildebeest staring back, copyright BKWine Photography

After breakfast and checkout you make your way from the Addo region to the Amakhala Game Reserve. Amakhala is a unique conservation initiative that allows animals to be re-introduced to the area where they once roamed freely, and so making a contribution to the conservation of our natural heritage.

The land was used to ranch sheep and cattle up to the turn of the century. The challenge has been to re-establish the original flora and fauna species to the area and to return the land to nature.

Upon arrival you have a brief orientation of the game reserve before heading out for a three hour safari on this stunning game reserve. After the game drive you will enjoy a delicious two course lunch at their restaurant, before heading to the Port Alfred for your overnight accommodation.

Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner

Overnight: Port Alfred

A blesbuck antelope on the watch, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 4, Wednesday, March 8 – River Boat Exploration, Unique Bird Wildlife, Big 5

This (again) exceptional day will also start early and take you to a very different kind of game reserve, including an amazing river boat exploration.

One of the safari lodges are by a small lake, copyright BKWine Photography

You’re in for a treat today. You begin your day with a boat ride up the Kariega River from Kenton on Sea to the Sibuya Game Reserve. Sibuya, one of South Africa’s most unique Safari destinations, has more navigable river than any other game reserve in South Africa. Consequently as a birding destination it is hard to beat: there are nearly 400 different species.

This breathtakingly beautiful game reserve is sanctuary to an abundance of diverse wildlife from elephants to otters, and almost everything in between, including the Big Five.

Upon arrival at Sibuya Game Reserve you will head out for a three hour safari game drive in open 4×4 vehicles before enjoying a delicious lunch served on the banks of the river. After lunch you will transfer back to Port Alfred by boat and your touring vehicle.

Meals: breakfast, lunch

Overnight: Port Alfred

A white rhino – rhinoceros, copyright BKWine Photography

Day 5, Thursday, March 9 – Return to Cape Town and then home

All good things must come to an end. After breakfast and checking out you will be transferred to Port Elizabeth for your flight to Cape Town and connect with your flight home.

Meals: breakfast.

The program may be subject to minor modifications.

In the jeep heading for more wildlife, copyright BKWine Photography

Fact sheet — Safari and Wildlife Add-on to Wine tour to South Africa

Dates: March 5–9, 2017

Price per person: 1090 euro

Single room supplement: 285 euro

Included in the price:

• Transfer to Cape Town Airport
• Accommodation (bed & breakfast) as specified in the itinerary
  • Port Elizabeth: The Beach Hotel
  • Addo Region: Zuurberg Mountain Inn
  • Port Alfred: De Pond Hotel (2 nights)
• Meals as specified in the itinerary:
  • 3 group lunches (Zuurberg Mountain Inn, Amakhala Game Reserve, Sibuya Game Reserve)
  • 2 group dinners (Zuurberg Mountain Inn, De Pond Hotel)
• The services of a South African English-speaking tourist guide throughout the tour
• All safari game drives and conservation fees at national parks, as described:
  • Daniell Cheetah Project cheetah walk
  • Addo Elephant National Park
  • Amakhala Game Reserve game drive
  • Sibuya Game Reserve game drive and river cruise
• Transport in an air-conditioned vehicle throughout the tour, between the venues
• Return transfer to Port Elizabeth airport
• Porterage at airports and hotels

Not included:

• Expenses of a personal nature (telephone calls, laundry, drinks – including bottled water, etc)
• Gratuities for drivers and guides.
  • Recommended for both your South African guide and driver: 3 GBP or 3 USD or 3 Euro, or ZAR equivalent, per person per day, to both driver and guide.
  • Recommended for site guides / game rangers: 2 GBP or 2 USD or 2 Euro, or the ZAR equivalent, per person, per visit.
• Anything not specified above, or given as optional
• Personal travel and accident insurance
• Domestic or international flights associated with the tour

Please note

Guide and tour management: The safari and wildlife extension is managed and guided by a local South African guide.

Flight Cape Town-Port Elizabeth: The recommended flight between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth is not included in the price. (Approximate price for a return ticket: 175-240 USD at time of writing.)

Indemnity Forms: At certain visits you may be required to sign “indemnity forms”, a requirement for visits to some of the animal reserves.

Minimum number: For the safari extension to be valid with the above prices a minimum of 4 participants in total is required. Please check back with BKWine.

Book This Trip

You will find full information on how to book this trip in the booking section of the South Africa Wine Tour program.

A giraffe looking down on us, copyright BKWine Photography

The road into the wilderness and a Blue Wildebeest, copyright BKWine Photography

The Wine Tour to the dynamic Alentejo, with a visit to the Setúbal peninsula and the legendary muscatel wines

— When the weather is still warm in the fall we visit Portugal, one of the most exciting wine countries in Europe right now. We cover two Portuguese wine regions during these days. We spend a day at the Setúbal peninsula and two days in the Alentejo, Portugal’s largest region where vines cork oaks abound. Modern world-class reds and whites contrast with almost mythical moscatel de setubal.

Program    |    Travel facts    |    Book    |    More on the tour

The typical oak trees in a field in Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

Alentejo covers almost a third of Portugal’s surface. But only 4% of the population lives here. In other words, it is a wide open and very rural landscape which has a very special charm. It is lush and green in the spring, drier and browner in the fall.

Alentejo is the home of the cork oak forests, gut the share some space with vines, olive trees and pine trees. And the occasional black pig (which is a delicious Alentejo specialty!) that runs loose and feasts on plenty of acorns.

It was in the Alentejo that the new wave of quality progress started for the Portuguese wines. For many years now, producers in the Alentejo have won awards for their full-bodied, fruity red wines. And the quality has just continued to improve. Many entrepreneurs have come here to grow wine. Large investments have been made in this previously rather poor region. Today we find both small and large wine estates, red and white wines, good everyday wines and top-quality wines in the Alentejo.

Portugal, and not least Alentejo, has its own local grape varieties. During the journey we will encounter many of them: Antão Vaz, Arinto, Fernão Pires, roupeiro, alfrocheiro, Castelao, Trincadeira and many more. You can find French varieties too but they have fortunately not manage to take over. Portugal is keen to preserve its uniqueness.

Some delicious dry cured ham, copyright BKWine Photography

In addition to the Alentejo we will visit the Terras do Sado on the Setubal peninsula just south of Lisbon. On the Setúbal peninsula vineyards coexist with beautiful national parks, olive groves, golf courses (we’re close to the capital) and long sandy beaches. Here they make red wines from the Castelão grape. This grape thrives in the sandy soil. The area is also well known for the amazing sweet wine called Moscatel de Setubal.

Wine is not the only thing that you will experience on this trip. We will have plenty of opportunities to explore the Portuguese gastronomy. Another important and very enjoyable aspect is how to match wine and food. Our lunches usually include a tasting of the wines from one of the producers, which gives us plenty of opportunities to sample and discuss.

There will be many different specialties during the three days: charcuterie, wonderful cured ham (as good as the Spanish), lovely stews, cheeses etc. We will taste several different wines at the lunches so that you get a good feeling for the Portuguese food and wine parings.

You make your own way to Lisbon (and back hom), the beautiful capital of Portugal. Here we stay the first and the last nights of the tour. The second and third nights we stay in Alentejo, in the amazing historic town of Evora, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Evora is an adorable little town, a mix of different styles, medieval houses, Renaissance, and Moorish style. It is magical and time-travelling to get lost in the narrow streets in the evening!

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.

An oak forest and a vineyard in Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

More info

We have written a lot about the Alentejo and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in the Alentejo.

You can also find more information on the Alentejo wines on BKWine Magazine.

Program — Alentejo and Setubal wine tour

Preliminary programme.

For more details, contact BKWine.

Program overview

• Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Lisbon
• Day 2, Thursday — The Setúbal peninsula, Terras do Sado
• Day 3, Friday — Alentejo, east of Evora
• Day 4, Saturday — Alentejo, south of Evora
• Day 5, Sunday — Heading back home

Wednesday, October 25 — arrival in Lisbon

You arrive in Lisbon and check-in at our centrally located hotel, a stone’s throw from the main Avenida da Liberdade.

A church on the main square in Evora, Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

Lisbon is a city made for strolling around in. But it is a city that is built on hills so it can be nice to sit down in one of the charming trams – looking like antiques – to get around once in a while. One tram line goes straight through the old quarter.

The city is beautifully situated on the River Tejo estuary. The city being built on hills means that there are many fantastic vantage points where you can look out over the city and Atlantic Ocean.

There are of course countless restaurants. Often they are small and intimate. You can find plenty of seafood and one of our favourites, grilled sardines. You find the very best grilled sardines in Portugal! Drop in to some bar later in the evening and listen to the fado, the traditional Portuguese singing.

The evening is free to discover some of the city’s restaurants and cafes as well as other attractions.

A beautiful winery in Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

Thursday, October 26 — The Setúbal peninsula, Terras do Sado

Our bus will pick us up in the morning at the hotel in Lisbon. We travel south of the river, to the Setubal peninsula. Crossing the river, we can view the huge Christ statue from the bridge, inspired by the one in Rio.

A cork oak forest in Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

We have an hour’s journey ahead of us and our target is the small village of Azeitão. Setubal is a beautiful area and very popular with Lisbon residents for weekend excursions. The proximity to the big city has meant that some wineries have given way to property developments but the wine industry is still important.

The two main grapes are the white muscatel and the red castelão. The sweet wines of Muscat d’ Alexandrie are legendary, some of the most complex sweet wines in the world.

Castelão is a grape that is quite difficult to grow but it works very well here. It has become famous not least thanks to JM da Fonseca’s Periquita. But other grapes grow here too and if a producer wants to have the freedom to choose almost any grape then he can choose to sell his wines as Vinho Regional Terras do Sado.

Here on the Setúbal peninsula we will visit the highly renowned producer José Maria da Fonseca in Azeitão. We will have a tour of beautiful buildings, their historic collection, and the impressive cellars (the Periquita cellar, the Moscatel cellar…). After the wine tasting we will stay at of Fonseca’s and enjoy a delicious lunch together with some well-chosen wines from their range.

We will have the time for an afternoon visit on our way towards Evora.

Late afternoon we arrive at our hotel in Evora. The hotel is very central. After checking in, you have the evening free to explore this amazing city. Don’t miss an evening walk past the cathedral and the incredible Roman temple.

The famous Roman temple in Evora, Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

Friday, October 27 — Alentejo, east of Evora

Our bus will pick us up in the morning at the hotel. Today we go to the east. We take the opportunity to look at all the cork oaks that we drive past and learn what the curious number markings mean.

A traditional farmhouse in Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

Portugal has the largest cork oak plantings in the world with more than 700,000 hectares, most of it in the Alentejo.

We are making our way towards the city Reguengos de Monsaraz. Near the town we arrive at one of Portugal’s most renowned wine estates, Esporão. Here some of the Alentejo’s most prized wines are made. We will visit their magnificent winery and lodge. In the winery they work organically and sustainably and experiment with different ways to farm environmentally friendly. Both plants and animals thrive around the vineyards.

After the wine tasting we will have an aperitif and then we stay and enjoy a gastronomic lunch at Esporão. The chefs at Esporão have developed a new modernistic Portuguese cuisine with local ingredients.

The afternoon visit will be at an the interesting property owned by the José de Sousa Rosado et Fernandes. This is an impressive, very modern facility that combines old and new. For example, it has revived the ancient Roman tradition of fermenting wine in amphorae.

Late afternoon we are back in Evora. The evening is free for your own discoveries.

A cork oak forest in Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

Saturday, October 28 — Alentejo, south of Evora

After breakfast we check-out of the hotel and load our luggage in the bus. Then we head south towards the small towns of Vidigueira and Cuba (indeed!).

Different tank sizes in a winery, Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

Our morning visit is at the Herdade do Rocim winery. This is a fairly new estate of over 100 hectares of which 70 hectares are currently planted with vines. In addition, they have 10 hectares of olive trees and make their own very fine olive oil.

The new owners, who took over in 2000, have modernised, restructured and made new plantings. The new wine cellar is built to blend into the landscape.

After the visit and the wine tasting we continue south, towards Beja. Here we will visit Herdade da Mingorra, a family farm run by Henrique Uva with good help from his daughter Sophia. This is a property with great ambition and excellent quality.

We first make a short visit to the winery and then it is time for a traditional Portuguese lunch – as guests at the home of the Uva family – with a large number of wines, sparkling, white, red and sweet. We promise a very interesting collection of wines.

After lunch it’s time to head back to Lisbon. We expect to arrive at the hotel early evening.

We check into our hotel and you have the evening free to further explore this amazing city.

Time for lunch in Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

Sunday, October 29 — Heading back home

The tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

Program may be subject to minor modifications.

An oak forest and a vineyard in Alentejo, copyright BKWine Photography

Tour Details — Wine tour to Alentejo and Setubal in Portugal

Dates: October 25-29, 2017

Price per person: 1300 euro

Single room supplement: 210 euro

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast
  • 2 nights in Lisboon at four-star Hotel Inspira Santa Marta
  • 2 nights in Evora, at four-star Hotel M’Ar De Ar Muralhas
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic Portuguese multi-course lunches with local specialities, including wines, as guest at wineries
• Start and end point: Lisbon
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 2 per day
• Visits will be in English
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Lisbon yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 10 participants registered at the “book before” date.

Book This Tour

Book before: July 15, 2017

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 300 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest one month before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

• phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
• Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
• email: info@bkwine.com

More on our wine tours

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About the wine producers and wineries we visit

Sandra Tavares da Silva, owner-winemaker at Wine & Soul, copyright BKWine Photography

Our aim is that you shall experience some of the best and most interesting that the wine region has to offer, both of wine and food.

We put a big effort into finding and creating outstanding winery visits. Often it will not be the most “famous” and internationally well-known wineries that will give you the best and most unique experiences…

It is usually when you get to meet the winemaker or winery owner himself (or often herself) that the visits become really exciting. And perhaps we even meet the whole family at the estate.

You start discussing and start to understand what it is they do and why in the winery and in the vineyard. Maybe we will also have lunch in the winery or at their home. Need we say we invariably have private wine tastings at the wineries?

That is why our trips are not “jam packed” with visits at wineries. Nevertheless we often run short of time since the discussions – and the wine tastings – can easily become very engaging…

Our wine country tours typically include a mix of small family producers, exclusive boutique wineries and larger internationally well-known wine estates, all selected with great care so that it will give you a unique experience of the people and of the behind-the-scenes in the winery and a good understanding of the wine district’s characteristics, tradition and culture.

At the time of publishing a travel program not all visits have been finalised. We are continuously working on improving the program. The domaines / wineries / châteaux that we visit on a tour may therefore sometimes differ from what was written in the original program. Contact us if you want more details, or if you have any special requests.

On meals: food and gastronomy

Preparing a wine tasting and lunch

Wine and food are intimately linked. That is part of our wine travel philosophy; wine is an integral part of the gastronomy.

A wine tour with BKWine will therefore also be a gastronomic experience.

The meals that are included in a tour with BKWine are on a gourmet level and of very high standard.

Sometimes we will have a meal with a winemaker, perhaps in the wine cellar or at the winery, or even in their home. This is a unique experience that is generally not open to other visitors to wineries. It is an occasion to experience exciting combinations of food and wine while discussing with the people who made the wine.

Sometimes we will have a luxurious meal at a gourmet restaurant. At other times it may be not at a prestigious luxury address but at a local restaurant selected for its presentation of local gastronomic specialities, its atmosphere and its quality – a place where locals go. Or perhaps it will be a buffet lunch made at home by the winemaker and his wife. In all cases we want to show you local gastronomic specialities and the local food and wine pairings.

Do not expect a picnic with salad and sausage from the supermarket and wine in plastic mugs… Think instead of a wine-and-dine experience with specially composed menu with three or four courses and delicious wines.

A wine tour with BKWine is also a culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A gourmet wine tour!

Why travel with BKWine?

Wine slowly aging in the barrel cellar, copyright BKWine Photography

We are experts and specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also in wine in a broader perspective.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tours and gourmet travel as BKWine.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours. This is what we love to do, because it is fun and exciting. What we want more than anything is to share with you all these wonderful experiences.

It does not matter if you are “a total novice” on wine and food or if you have a life-long experience in the wine sector. We will give you a very special experience, in a way that no other tour operator can do.

We write in specialised wine magazines and one of our books has won the prize as best wine book in the world. We are regularly called on to be part of judging panels in wine competitions.

We personally visit some 300 vineyards every year. We have organised several hundreds of wine and food tours with an experience going back more than twenty years. We are invited as speakers at wine tourism and culinary touring conferences.

We choose our tour destinations and winery visits with great care. Not because a winery happens to be carrying a “famous name” but because they will give our guests — you! — a unique and special experience. You may be looking for a short wine week-end holiday or a longer wine vacation; in all cases you can be confident that you will get a top quality tour, an experience of a lifetime. Or at least one that will last you until the next time you come on a wine tour with BKWine. Many of our travellers are returning clients.

A wine and food tour with BKWine is always guided by a knowledgeable and experienced BKWine guide and tour manager, someone who knows the ins and outs of wine, of the local gastronomy, of the culture and who speaks the language.

Some accolades we at BKWine and our wine and food tours have received:

• “World’s Top Wine Tours” by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
• “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
• “Recommended Wine Tours” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year” in Sweden 2010 for the book The Creation of a Wine
• “Best wine book for Professionals” again in 2012 in Sweden, as well as silver, runner-up, as “World’s Best Educational Wine Book” for the book Wine and the Environment
• “Wine Personality of the Year” by Munskankarna, the world’s biggest wine tasting and wine appreciation association
• On the Wine Media Power List by Wine Business International Magazine (Britt, 2012)

Read more on why to choose BKWine for a wine and food tour.

Read more on what previous travellers have said about our tours.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The group size may vary, sometimes maximum 8, sometimes 20, but always of a modest size (we do not do “minimum 20, maximum 45”). Check the details in each program. This is important since it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

BKWine is a Swedish registered travel organiser. BKWine has a bonded travel guarantee deposit so that you can feel safe when booking with us. We fully comply with European and Swedish travel guarantee regulations. British travellers may be familiar with the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) protection scheme which is a similar model. BKWine follows the code of conduct and financial safeguards defined by the Swedish Consumer Agency and The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (“Kammarkollegiet”, with a history dating back to 1539). Read more about this in our Booking Terms and Conditions.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours but on location we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. And also:

• Recommend this trip to a friend using the Share/Save (add-to-any) button below!

• There are thousands of pictures from previous trips on BKWine Photography

• Some wine videos from previous wine tours with BKWine

• What do the customers say about BKWine tours?

Newsletter on wine

Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. And keeps you updated on upcoming wine and food tours.

Custom Tours

We also do custom wine and food tours if you want to choose different dates or if you want something different than what we currently offer on our scheduled tours – for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.