Loire Valley Wine & Culture Tour – 2 days, 1 night

Not just another visit to the tourist laden chateaux, but a privately guided wine tasting tour with Stephane Tournade, the English-speaking principal (he did High School in Houston) of French Wine Tours. An  intimate program (6 persons max) featuring visits to wineries and off the beaten path cultural institutions. with a dinner and an overnight at the spectacular Chateau Maraçy in Chinon.

Day 1

Train  from Paris Austerlitz.

• 9:45 : Pick up  at Tours TGV station.

• 10:15 : Visit and tasting at a winery in Vouvray.
• 12:00 : Visit to Domaine de Candé.

• Charles Eugene Bedaux was a flamboyant millionaire who made his fortune as an efficiency engineer in the United States. Born in France, he emigrated to the US as a teenager, worked as a sandhog on the Holland Tunnel and eventually advised major industrialists like Ford and Goodyear Rubber how to save money by extracting more production out of their workers. The American labor movement detested him, but the capitalists admired his work. He bought the Chateau de Candé in the Loire Valley in 1927, and this is where he hosted the wedding of the Duke of Windsor to Wallis Simpson. He improved French arms production at the beginning of the war, but he went on with his major projects under Vichy and the Germans.

•   The eight bedrooms are each equipped with a bathroom in the art déco style; all have baths equipped with an American system, making it possible to fill and empty a bathtub in less than one minute.

  
  

  13:00 : Lunch in a bistrot in Monts

• 14:30 : Visit to the Balzac Museum.

• 16:00 : Visit and tasting at a family winery in Chinon.
• Eric Asimov, the New York Times Wine Critic, discusses Chinon.

• 18:00 : Check-in at Chateau Marçay in Chinon.

• 20:00 : Dinner at Chateau Marçay
• On the terrace if weather cooperates

Day 2

• Breakfast at the hotel and check-out.
• 10:15 : Departure from the hotel.

• 10:30 : Visit to the Chateau Azay le Rideau 

• 12:00 : Visit of the cellar and vineyards at family winery in Saumur-Champigny.
• 13:00 : Lunch with the winery crew while tasting their wines 

• 15:30 : Visit and tasting at a family winery in Savennières.
• The thinking person's white wine
• 17:48 : Angers TGV station.

Guided tour including 4 winery visits and tastings

Lunch at Bistro in Monts

Lunch in a vineyard

Visits to Domaine de Candé, Chateau de Azay-Le Rideau, Musée Balzac

Overnight Chateau Marçay

Spectacular four course dinner at  with appropriate superior wines Chateau Marçay

Bountiful buffet breakfast

855 euros per person double occupancy

980 euros single occupancy

Next Program

July 12-13

Private tours for 6 persons on request

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