My Wife and I are going to be in Paris for 1 week, we wanted to get away to the Loire valley for a day and go wine tasting. I have the trains figured out and can get tickets on TGV, the quesiton is, once there, how do we get to the vineyards? Where do we go? and is it like California where they all have wine tasting rooms?
Thanks for the help
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When you arrive at your Loire destination, seek out the Tourist Office, they should have information on the most local wineries.
Hiring a Car for the day will probably be the easiest way to get around.
where do you think the Californian Wineries got their ideas for tasting rooms?? However, owners of some of the smaller wineries will either invite you into their house, or sit out with you in the garden if it is a lovely day.
EW
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If you do a one day bus tour you might make better use of your limited time. There is one tour that will tour two chateaux and one winery in one day and get you back late to Paris.
If you take a train out on your own you will have to rent a car for the day and try to do it all the touring on your own in one day.
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The wine-producing regions of the Loire valley stretch over an enormous area, along probably close to 500 km of the river valley. From the west close to the ocean you have the Pays Nantais, then Anjou and Saumur, then the Touraine region and finally the Pouilly and Sancerre regions.
I am guessing that you are planning to take the TGV to Tours. From there you would have to rent a car. With a good map, probably 1:25,000 scale you could easily find your way to the white wine producing regions of Vouvray and Montlouis nearby to the east of Tours. Most of the winereies are quite small and may not be set up to receive casual visitors in the same aqy as the California wineries are.
The (mostly) red wine areas of Chinon nd Biurgeuil for which you would also need a good map are some distance west of Tours around Chinon on the left bank of the river and around St. Nicolas de Bourgueil on the right bank. The other major wine-producing areas are too far away for you to get to them in a few hours.
Honestly I don%26#39;t think the Loire is the ideal area to which to make the kind of quick foray you are thinking of. The champagne region lends itself much better to this kind of one day trip. Many of the major producers can be visited in Reims without the need to rent a car. From June 10 when the TGV Est line will be inaugurated Reims will only be a 45 minute trip from Paris.
Another option would be the Burgundy area where half day winery tours are available from Dijon and I think also from Beaune.
I do not know of any such tours in the Loire valley but if you google the Tours and Chinon tourist offices and send them an email they should be able to advise you.
Good luck!
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