Wine tour in the Loire Valley – Sancerre, Vouvray, Chinon and more
— The Loire is France’s longest river and one of the world’s most famous wine rivers. During this tour we sample the crisp sauvignon blanc wines of Sancerre and the complex chenin blanc and cabernet franc wines of Touraine where we visit regions such as Vouvray, Chinon and Bourgueil. During the tour, you will discover and experience a large part of the Loire Valley. There are many elegant wines here that pair well with the area’s graceful Renaissance palaces and famous gastronomy.
Tour Highlights
- 4 nights
- Private tastings, ca. 10
- Magnificent lunches with wine pairings
- Focus on small growers
- Price: [sample programme]
- Beautiful landscapes
- Chenin blanc, sauvignon blanc, cabernet franc
- Organic vineyards
- Tours, Vouvray, Chinon, Bourgueil, Sancerre
Please Note: This Is A Sample Programme
This is a sample programme, an example. Every wine and food tour that we organise is different and specially adapted for the season and the circumstances. Details in the programme, e.g. which producers we visit, will be different each time.
- This tour is sometimes available on our scheduled wine and food tour programme
- It can be designed specifically for you as a custom made private wine tour.
Next Wine Tour To the Loire Valley
- Contact us.
The Loire is France’s longest river and flows from its source in the Massif Central out to the Atlantic coast over almost 1,000 kilometres. After the first 500 kilometres, roughly at the bend where the river turns left, it arrives at the wine appellations and what we usually call the Loire Valley.
Here there is a quiet charm and a mild climate. There are sumptuous châteaux built by nobles and kings, for themselves or for their mistresses.
During our days in the Loire Valley, wine, of course, takes centre stage. But we won’t be able to avoid seeing some of the famous châteaux that have so much to tell about French history.
In addition, the local gastronomy, among the most highly rated of the regional French cuisines, also receives much attention. We discuss food and wine pairings, and we will be treated to some surprising ones, with excellent wines.
We meet in the city of Tours, the main city in the Touraine region, a charming city with an old town centre with well-preserved houses from the 14th and 15th centuries. There are plenty of restaurants to discover in the evenings. We stay in Tours for three nights. Tours is 24 kilometres from Paris, and it is easy to get here, either from Paris (1-1.5 hour train journey) or directly from the Charles de Gaulle-Roissy airport.
Touraine is often called “the Garden of France” thanks to its mild climate, the green valleys and the flower, fruit and vegetable farms. During our days here, we visit several wine regions, such as Vouvray and Montlouis-sur-Loire with their superb chenin blanc wines and Chinon and Bourgueil with their elegant red wines made from cabernet franc, which are now finally getting the recognition they deserve.
Saturday morning, we check out of the hotel and get on the bus. We travel to Sancerre, which will be our last stop on the tour. We will get to know the crisp and elegant wines from Sancerre. Here, sauvignon blanc is at its very best. We have time for two visits here, a lunch and an outstanding farewell dinner. Sunday morning after breakfast we go with our bus to Paris.
The trip is led by one of BKWine’s expert guides, a prominent specialist in French wines.
Also worth noting is that we at BKWine have written an award-winning book about French wines, an in-depth guide to the wines and regions of France.
So you will have a hard time finding a more insightful guide to this exciting wine region. More on this below.
Programme — Loire Valley wine tour
Preliminary programme.
Contact BKWine for more details.
Sample programme
This is a sample programme, an example. You can find the wine tours currently on the schedule here, or you can explore a custom designed wine tour by contacting us.
There may be changes to some details of the programme, e.g. which wineries we visit. We put great effort into making your visits both exceptional and memorable. For this reason we often visit other than the most obvious, big-name producers (where there are often a number of guides employed). Instead we chose to give you a more unique, personal experience at our carefully selected estates, often (but not always) meeting the owner or the winemaker.
Programme overview
- Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Tours
- Day 2, Thursday — Chinon and Bourgueil
- Day 3, Friday — Vouvray
- Day 4, Saturday — Sancerre
- Day 5, Sunday — The tour ends in Paris
Wednesday, Day 1 — Arrival in Tours
You arrive at Tours whenever you want during the day. Check-in at our hotel, which is very centrally located, just a short walk from the old town.
Tours is located on the Loire River and is a pleasant and human-size city to stroll in. It has an impressive range of restaurants, ranging from simple brasseries and wine bars to top-class French restaurants with gourmet food second to none.
Tours has a magnificent cathedral, Saint Gatien, which is worth a visit. In the “Old Town”, Vieux Tours, there are exquisite medieval houses and the beautiful square Place Plumerau with half-timbered houses and a variety of outdoor restaurants, very lively in the evening.
The evening is free to stroll around Tours and enjoy a first meal of Loire specialities.
Thursday, Day 2 — Chinon and Bourgueil
Touraine’s big red grape is cabernet franc, and we will get to know it in detail today. The soil varies, but here you have much of the region’s unique limestone, called tuffeau, also famous for its many cave dwellings.
Some of the best producers in Touraine have made us realise how good cabernet franc is. The grape’s popularity has grown enormously in recent years. It has spread from the Loire to many different countries.
After breakfast, we drive towards the small village of Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne. On the way there, we take a slight detour and pass the town of Chinon. We stop and admire the old 14th-century castle (or fortress) that looks down on the city. Chinon is on the river Vienne, one of the Loire’s many tributaries. The castle is now a ruin but still imposing. Both Henry II of England and his son Richard the Lionheart lived here.
Our first visit of the day will be a magnificent (wine) château run with great entrepreneurial spirit by a new generation. The property makes reds from cabernet franc and whites from chenin blanc, as well as sparkling and rosé. Through their three different cabernet franc wines, the winemaker wants to show how soil and vinification affect the original characteristics of the grape. A cabernet franc can be light and juicy but also age-worthy and complex.
We stay for lunch at this fine property. It will be a multi-course menu with some local specialities. The chateau’s various wines will go well with it.
In the afternoon, we cross the Loire, and thus we end up in the Bourgueil appellation. We will visit a family property with around 18 hectares and a very beautiful old cellar. Old vines, some over 100 years old, guarantee fine quality.
Late afternoon we are back in Tours. The evening is free to further soak up the atmosphere in the old town and perhaps a glass of wine or two.
Friday, Day 3 — Vouvray
Today we visit the two famous white wine districts in Touraine, Vouvray and Montlouis-sur-Loire. They are located just east of Tours, on opposite sides of the river. Here, they make some of the world’s best chenin blanc wines.
Our morning visit will be with Catherine and Didier Champalou. They have been running this family property for about twenty years. Like most here in Vouvray, they make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling wines. Everything is made from the same grape, chenin blanc, one of the wine world’s most multifaceted grapes. And also one of the world’s top-class white grape varieties.
We then go down towards the river again. We will have lunch at the elegant Restaurant Les Hautes Roches with a nice view over the river. The chef comes from Brittany but is also fond of local Loire products. We eat a luxurious 4-course lunch. The restaurant has one star in the Guide Michelin.
We end the day with a visit in the same village as the restaurant. It will be with one of the more well-known producers, an estate founded at the end of the 19th century. Their troglodyte cellar – a cave – is well worth a visit. The excavation in the limestone, le tuffeau, began already in the 11th century.
We learn more about the production, and we get an exciting tasting. The character of the wines varies depending on whether the vines grow in limestone soil or in more sandy and gravelly soil.
Late afternoon we are back in Tours. The evening is free.
Saturday, Day 4 — Sancerre
We check out after breakfast and board our bus together with our luggage. We are going to Sancerre. We go due east; the journey takes around two and a half hours. It’s time to discover what is perhaps the most famous wine region of the Loire.
The Sancerre appellation has 3,000 hectares of vineyards. Most of the wine is white, but there is also some red and rosé. Today’s visit will show the versatility of the sauvignon blanc grape. It can e.g. sometimes be surprisingly age-worthy, which one often forgets. We will also have the opportunity to taste the rare red wines made from pinot noir.
We visit one of the top-quality growers in the small village of Chavignol. The tasting after the visit will show examples of the versatility of the sauvignon blanc grape. We also have the opportunity to take a walk in the vineyard to inspect the vines and marvel at the surprisingly steep slopes.
We eat an excellent three-course lunch in the same village at the charming Restaurant La Côte des Monts Damnés. Chavignol is famous for its round little goat’s cheese, le crottin de chavignol, and we will, of course, get to taste it. We then make a final afternoon visit to a vineyard that shows another aspect of sauvignon blanc.
In the late afternoon, we check into our hotel in the small town of Sancerre, which is beautifully situated on a hilltop. It is a charming little town imbued by its location in this world-famous wine region. We stay at the four-star newly renovated Hotel Panoramic. It has an absolutely stunning view of the vineyards and countryside and is only a 5-minute walk from the main square.
You have some free time for a walk in the small town that sits atop the hill. Maybe you’ll have a coffee or a glass of wine.
A little later, we meet for a farewell dinner at Restaurant La Tour, a short walk from the hotel. La Tour is a well-known gastronomic restaurant, probably the best in the area, with excellent cuisine.
Sunday, Day 5 — End of tour in Paris, journey home
After breakfast, we go up to Paris with our comfortable bus. The journey takes around three hours. We will arrive in central Paris by 1:00 p.m. at the latest.
There may be changes to some details of the programme, e.g. which wineries we visit. We put great effort into making your visits both exceptional and memorable. For this reason we often visit other than the most obvious, big-name producers (where there are often a number of guides employed). Instead we chose to give you a more unique, personal experience at our carefully selected estates, often (but not always) meeting the owner or the winemaker.
Go For It!
We’d love to have you with us.
More travel information
Here are some useful pages and guides about this travel destination:
Even more info
We have written a lot about Loire and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.
- Read more about travelling in the Loire Valley wine region on our travel blog.
- You can also find more information on the wines from the Loire on BKWine Magazine, our online wine magazine. For example:
- Cabernet franc, finally on its way to fame and fortune | Grape Profile | Britt on Forbes
- Sauvignon blanc, aromatic, popular and more multifaceted than you think | Grape Variety Profile | Britt on Forbes
- Chenin blanc, a fantastic grape shared between France and South Africa | Grape Profile | Britt on Forbes
- Our YouTube videos on the Loire Valley
Here are a few videos from winery visits in the Loire:
Wine books
We have written more than ten wine books. They have won both national and international wine writing awards.
No other wine tour organiser has a comparable knowledge, competence and experience.
Tour Details — Loire Valley Wine Tour
Dates: [this is a sample programme]
Price per person: [this is a sample programme]
Single room supplement: [this is a sample programme]
Sample programme
This is a sample programme, an example. You can find the wine tours currently on the schedule here, or you can explore a custom designed wine tour by contacting us.
Included in the price:
- 4 nights hotel accommodation, double occupancy, including breakfast in good quality 4-star hotel:
- 3 nights in Tours
- 1 night in Sancerre
- Meals as described in the programme above (*):
- 1 gastronomic and luxurious multi-course dinner including several different wines
- 1 gastronomic and sumptuous multi-course lunch, including several different wines, at a one-star Michelin restaurant
- 2 gastronomic multi-course lunches, including several different wines, at a wine producer or local restaurant
- Start point: Tours
- End point: Paris
- Bus transport during the whole trip in comfortable bus
- All vineyard and winery visits
- Private, top quality tastings at wineries, approx. 2-3 per day
- Translation from French as needed (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.
Not included:
- Travel (flights etc) to the destination and back to your home location.
You are responsible for organising your travel to Tours and home from Paris.
If you would like assistance 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 regular, non-wine related tourism too. We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights as needed.
It is easy to get to Tours with the high-speed TGV train from Paris-Montparnasse. It takes 1-1.5 hours. You can also take the TGV train directly from Charles de Gaulle-Roissy airport, which takes a little longer. Tours has two stations, Tours-Saint-Pierre-des-Corps (4 km from the city centre) and Tours (city centre). Some trains go to the centre others stop in St-Pierre-des-Corps. There is a five-minute train connection between the two, or 12-15 minutes by taxi. Train tickets are usually released three months before departure. It is easy to book tickets online.
For this tour to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered by the “book before” date. Maximum number of tour participants: 8.
Book This Tour
Book before: [this is a sample programme]
Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of [sample programme, this varies by trip]. Full payment should be received at the latest [sample programme, usually one month or 60 days, depending on the trip] before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.
It is important that you read our travel booking terms and conditions.
We also invite you to read more on why you should travel with BKWine, about customer protection, and about what you can expect from our wine tours in the section below “More on our wine tours”.
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, or use the contact form below
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More on our wine tours
Why travel with BKWine?
We are Britt and Per Karlsson. We are specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also experts in wine in general. We are internationally published wine writers and have written ten award-winning wine books.
No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tourism and gourmet travel.
We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours, and this is what we love to do. We take it very seriously – it is not a sideline or a hobby – and what we want more than anything is to share all these wonderful experiences with you.
All our tours are led and managed by guides who have in-depth wine knowledge, and in many cases we lead the tours ourselves.
Read more on why you should choose BKWine for your wine and food tour.
Thousands of happy customers
Over the years, thousands of wine lovers have travelled with us. Many come back to tour again and again with BKWine to new wine regions. Our record-breaking client has been on more than ten BKWine tours. We are happy and proud to have such faithful customers.
Read more on what travellers have said about our tours.
Awards and Mentions
We’re pleased and proud to have received many accolades, including:
- “World’s Top Wine Tours”, Travel+Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
- “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
- “Recommended Wine Tours”, Munskänkarna, the world’s biggest wine appreciation association
- “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year”, Gourmand International awards, and many other book prizes
- Three OIV book awards, International Organisation of Vine and Wine
- “Wine Personality of the Year”, an honour bestowed on Britt Karlsson by Munskänkarna in 2011, the world’s biggest wine appreciation association
- Inclusion on the Wine Media Power List, by Wine Business International magazine
About the wine producers and wineries we visit
Our aim is for you to experience some of the very best and most interesting aspects of the wine world, in terms of wine and food.
We put great effort into creating outstanding winery visits, and in this way we are quite different to many wine tour organisers. It is not always the most renowned, internationally known estates that offer the best experiences. Organising a wine tour featuring famous names of the wine world is relatively easy: it is merely a question of making lists and ticking boxes. On those kind of “bucket list” wine tours, you rarely meet the winemaker or the owner. You will simply be one of thousands of visitors they receive each year.
We do things differently. With BKWine Tours, you will meet the people behind the label, often the winemakers and/or the owners. Thanks to them, you will have a unique, truly personal experience and an insight into the wine world that no one else can offer. When you travel with BKWine, you are more like a special guest than a tourist.
We have personal connections and unparalleled knowledge thanks to more than 20 years as wine journalists, with 10 wine books published, and as wine tour organisers with more than 30 years’ experience. You can be sure of getting the best wine travel experiences with BKWine Tours.
Read more on the wine producers and wineries we visit.
A true gourmet experience: food and gastronomy
For us, wine and food are intimately linked, and this is a fundamental part of our wine travel philosophy. For this reason, a wine tour with BKWine is always an outstanding culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A BKWine tour is a gastronomic voyage that explores the deep relationship between food and wine.
Read more On Meals: Food and Gastronomy on Our Tours.
Customer Protection, Financial Travel Guarantee, and Terms and Conditions
You can always feel safe when you book your tour with BKWine. BKWine has a bonded bank guarantee that gives full protection according to EU and Swedish law. BKWine is a Swedish limited company and as such is regulated by strict rules.
Read more on Customer Protection, Financial Travel Guarantee. and our Terms and Conditions.
When you book a tour it is important that you read the terms and conditions. BKWine’s booking terms and conditions follow the guidelines developed by the Consumer Protection Agency.
Health, vaccination and allergies
Our tours have no particular health requirements although inevitably we will be walking a certain amount in wine cellars and vineyards. Sensible footwear is a must.
Most of our travel destinations have no particular health guidelines or requirements for vaccinations or medical certificates, but if in doubt, you should always consult a medical professional, vaccination centre or relevant embassy in your country of origin.
We can always accommodate food allergies. However, in order for us to manage such requests you must let us know about any allergies before the tour starts.
Read more in our FAQ and in our Terms and Conditions.
Travel insurance
BKWine does not sell travel insurance. If you want travel insurance, check if your regular home insurance policy includes some kind of travel insurance, or contact your regular insurance company or a travel insurance specialist.
Custom Tours
We also offer custom wine and food tours if you want to travel on different dates, or if you want something different to what we currently offer on our scheduled tours. This tailor-made service can be offered for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.
Important information
Our groups are always small. The number of people in the group may vary. The maximum can range from 8 to around 20; check the details in each programme. But our groups are always modest in size. This is important because it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.
Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!
You are expected to organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours, but once you are at the location, we take care of everything.
For more inspiration
Read our wine travel blog. For more, read our online wine magazine the BKWine Magazine with articles from all over the wine world.
And also:
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