Wine Tasting in France

I have done quite a bit of wine tasting in southwest France without reservations. Many wineries in the region of Languedoc/Herault have open hours in their tasting rooms. I recommend Abbaye de Valmagne near Pezenas and Fontfroide further to the west. Both are unique and quite lovely...Valmagne is my personal favorite in all of southern France.

I've visited every wine region France over the past 30 years, and have almost never made an appointment; the only times were when I knew the importer and had him/her set up an appointment. Outside of major chateaus in Bordeaux, there are probably almost no wineries where an appointment is needed. Of course, you do have to pay attention to open hours and lunchtime closings, and at smaller wineries it may be that no one is there at the moment you stop.

The words you need to learn are "Dégustation" and "dégustation et vente", plus "cave coopérative".
You will see signs for these everywhere in French wine regions. A Cave coopérative is a local jointly owned winery. The local farmers (who are co-owners) bring their grapes to the local Cave coopérative, where it is turned into wines. They then sell the wines wholesale, but also sell direct from the winery, usually by the case. You can turn up, within their opening hours, and they have a sales counter where they do Dégustation (tasting) and vente (sales).
They often have a sign as you enter the village (Dégustation et vente). Most sales are to locals, but they welcome all customers. You may have to ring a bell to get service. It is perfectly acceptable to ask for a dégustation of whatever type of wine you fancy and then choose one and buy.

Please do not abuse. This is not a tourist service where you pay for the tasting, this is for legitimate customers. Unless the wine is terrible, please be fair and buy something you like (case of 6 bottles). You can then enjoy it in your hotel room for the rest of the stay, or take the remnants home with you. Some cave coopérative sell wine "en vrac" (loose). You bring your own container, they fill it up and charge you per litre. As a tourist who arrived by air, you probably do not have a handy 5 or 10 litre container.

The corresponding words in German, which you may have seen in Austria are probieren (tasting) and Winzergenossenschaft (cooperative winery).

That's what I am a little concerned about. I don't want to just run around doing free tastings. Like in Austria, I want to pop in to a wine house and buy a glass of wine to sip there. If I like it, perhaps buy a bottle of their wine and then move on. I would much rather bring home twelve bottles from different vineyards all around the country, than 6 or 12 bottles from the same vineyard. So is that not something that is the norm in France? Should I not expect that anywhere?

Kathryn, I did what you describe (except for the snacks part) in the Beaujolais region and also in Provence/Southern Rhone area. I will say that I never saw any casual set up like that in Bordeaux and Bourgogne but I could have just missed them because I called ahead and made appointments in those regions.

Kathryn, it sounds like what you're describing in Austria is a heurige (sp?), a sort of restaurant/wine bar run by a winery. I've been to a few in Vienna. France basically doesn't have anything like that. Every tasting I've been to in France has been free, but these are tastings, not wines by the glass. But you don't need to buy in quantity. At times I've just bought a bottle or 2, or even once or twice nothing when the wines were terrible (although I would never do that after a very congenial tasting). And when we've liked the wines and the people are very welcoming, we've bought a case or more. Sometimes the excuse given for a small purchase is that we're leaving for the US and can't take a lot of wine. And if you go to a large producer or a cooperative that has a good size tasting room and they're busy, you can get away with buying little or nothing. Just use your judgment and don't abuse their hospitality.

Wonderful! Thank you all so much for your help! We're really looking forward to this trip!