Hello,
We are planning to spend a day of our trip in the southern cotes-du-rhone area and we'd like to spend it touring wineries and villages. It is four of us. Should we schedule a tour with a guide to take us around, or would we be better off striking out on our own? Any recommendations for either would be appreciated.
Thanks!
You could do it either way, but if you're doing tastings, I hope one of your group would be the designated driver if you choose to DIY. The legal alcohol limit in France is only .05.
I would do it on your own, which is what we've always done. You don't need a designated non-drinking driver, as long as the driver is very careful about just taking one sip per pour and pouring out the rest.
I haven't done a lot of wine tasting tours. My experience so far is that few places are like American wineries that seem to focus on drop in tasters. In France, there are places that offer tastes along with selling bottles of their wine. The best experience is probably had by calling ahead a day or two and let them know you are coming so you can get a real tour.
I have not done a tour with a guide so can't comment on that. I've visited wineries on my own. The driver always had to smell and taste and spit - no drinking.
I recommend emailing the wineries you want to visit, if you know which ones you are keen on, in advance especially the well known wineries. They generally want you to book an appointment and may not accept walk ins. The smaller family wineries will be variable - they may or may not offer you a tour/tasting depending on what work they are doing that day.
Presumably with a guide, they will take care of all of the logistics.
Here's a very good web site for wineries in the southern Rhone: http://www.chateauneuf.dk/en/front.htm
It includes links to most of the wineries. One thing I generally do before visiting a French wine region is figure out what wineries I might want to visit, and check their web site if they have one. They will often contain info about when they're open, and whether appointments are required, or suggested. We rarely make appointments, unless there's a good reason (like when the winery is so small that you can't be sure anyone will be there, or if an importer contacts the winery for us). Without an appointment you can generally taste wines (as long as someone's there), but not usually get a tour.
My wife and I are inveterate wine travelers. We have done wine tours on our own and with wine guide specialists. For the southern Rhone, I would recommend a guided wine tour both because of the language issues and the limited accommodations for wine visitors. I would recommend Rhone Wine Holidays. We have used them twice. The company is run by a Brit named Phillip so language is not a problem. He provided excellent in-depth knowledge and took us to some out of the way mom & pop wineries. Of all the wine trips we've taken, the stop at a winery in Tavel was the highlight. There, because Philip and the owner had a business relationship, the owner open a bottle of Condrieu ( I know its a northern Rhone wine variety, but that's another story) from a 1 acre vineyard the winery owned. It was by far the most memorable white wine we ever had. (I liked it better than any of the Montrachets we've had.)
Phillip and his wife also run a B & B called La Madeline. We stayed there both times. If you don't already have other accommodations, I would highly recommend it.
The website for Rhone Wine Holidays is http://rhonewineholidays.com/
There really isn't a right or wrong answer on this. One major factor is having a designated driver. Do not underestimate the strictness the French place on DUI violations. If all 4 of you really want to taste extensively, pick the guided tour. The next factor is how much planning you want to put in. A guide will do it all for you. Next on the list is how extensive an experience you want. A guided group might be more generic than you are looking for, or might offer more insight on the wines and region that you might enjoy.
