Wine regions of France

"If we go independently should we rent a car or take rails?" Railroad tracks generally don't go to the vineyards. "Wine regions are a bit tricky, no?" That's correct, compared to, say, wine tasting in the Napa Valley. It will help if you know how to tell them, in French (when you get into the tasting room), what kind of wine you're interested in tasting. In one of Rick's book on France (there are a number, browse them online or at a bookdstore) he provides handy French phrases, with phonetic pronounciation, that you can use in French wine tasting rooms to tell them what kind of wine you're interested in. You'll probably be expected to buy a bottle or two. They'll know you're tourists and won't expect you to buy a case.

It just about has to be by car and you can easily do it yourself without speaking a word of French. The only problem I see is that all your regions of interest neatly stack vertically in a pretty straight line except for one: Bordeaux. It's way over in the southwest corner and about four hundred miles off a line from Reims to Avignon. Plus, a good bit of the vinyards in the area are even further west. There's plenty to see along the way (both wine and non-wine related), you just have to decide if a couple of extra days of travel (one/tenth of your total time) is worth the jaunt.

1) As you get off the main track, you will encounter people who do not speak English. I certainly did in Burgundy. Fortunately people are friendly and usually motivated to be helpful by commerce (they want to sell what you want to buy). Add your own ingenuity and good nature (point, pantomime, etc.) and you'll be fine. 2 & 3) Independent/tour is one of those de gustibus things, you have to decide. If you do go independently, consider visiting Reims by train as a day trip from Paris, then moving on to Beaune by train, then renting a car through Provence (and maybe beyond if you go to Bordeaux). To come home, fly home from Marseilles or Bordeaux, or schedule an afternoon return from deGaulle and take one of the direct trains from Avignon to the airport. Note also that many wonderful vineyards and wine towns in Burgundy are easy to visit by bicycle, which is lovely, and there is a friendly rental service in Beaune.

As Ed said- Bordeaux doesnt fit with your other choices. A trip from Champagne via Burgundy and Beajolais (adjoining) through Rhone down to Provence works. Champagne, Burgundy and Beaujolais are very atuned to the wine tourist and if you stick to the main areas, your English and a smattering of French phrases will be adequate. (Champagne seems very well geared for English speaking tourists) Bordeaux is a better fit with Loire valley wines, Cognac and a few other regions South of Bordeaux. Unfortunately sounds like another trip is needed There are tour companies who do these. Suggest checking the web. Try some UK web sites- I have found short wine tours to France from UK

If you look at a map of France, you will discover that most of the wine regions you want to visit are not far from each other – actually almost on a string - except Bordeaux which won't work on this trip if your end station is Monaco. You will need a car to visit the wine regions, as regional trains in France are slow and don't always run that often. However, my suggestion would be, after your stay in Paris, to start the wine journey by taking the TGV to Reims in Champagne (only 45 mins,) and pick up a rental car there to avoid traffic hassle in Paris. Visit some Champagne houses (ex. Taittinger in Reims or Moet Chandon in Epernay). From here, on to Burgundy, unless you want to detour to beautiful Alsace further east with Colmar as its capital and the wonderful white wines. Visit Beaune in Burgundy and the famous Hospice. Burgundy is one of my favorites, so driving into the country side south of Beaune to visit Meursault, Chassagne Montrachet, Puligny-Monrachet, is such a delight. Stay at either the famous Le Monrachet hotel or at a B&B (Chambre d'hote). Have dinner at a good local restaurant, ex. Le Chassagne in Puligny-Monrachet is superbe. Further south you go towards Beaujolais (spend a night in Lyon – la cuisine de France!) and Rhone valley and more lovely wine, perhaps in general, as part of your planning, it is a wise idea in advance to find the wineries you would like to visit, to avoid wasting precious travel time. Most wine regions in France have their own Route du Vin.
You will be in for quite a lot of driving (France is a big country after all) and will have to weigh the cost of a one-way car rental before catching a return flight from Nice – closest airport to Monaco. But 20 days of travelling should be manageable. The travel that Darren, CO, did, another post on this site, is worth considering, but Monaco will then be a bit off.

Hi Jia, I did a similar 3 week trip to France recently. We took a bit different path, and included some other regions. We started in Paris, then off to Loire, then Bordeaux, then Languedoc, then Provence, Rhone Valley, then Burgundy (beaujolais), Alsace, Champagne, then back to Paris. This was an excellent circuit, but your Monaco destination sort of makes this problematic. France's two most important regions are Bordeaux and Burgundy, with Loire having tremendous historical importance as well (it's where the King went!). So I would not miss these too, but you're going to have to backtrack a bit. Cars are generally better for visiting wineries/vineyards. French not required, but Rick's Phrasebook or other WineCountry translators will be immensely helpful.
The tour thing is totally up to you: Are you the type who can do the research and plan your own trip? Do you know the vintners in the area that you want to see? If not, a tour will do this and more for you (for a premium, of course).

I don't know what a couple of train tickets to Reims will cost, but you can drive it in an hour and spend less than fourty bucks for gas and tolls. Plus, you're already going to be paying for a rental car that day. Getting out of Paris isn't that hard. Pick a big road going in the general direction, hook either a left or right on the peripherique, get off of the A4/E50. and follow the signs. I just checked kayak.com and the price of a car is the same whether you drop it back in Paris, in Nice, or in Monaco. No drop-off fee.