Sauternes, a dessert wine with varying sweetness, was one of the world’s favorite wines a century ago. These wines, from the Sauternes and Barsac region south of Bordeaux, are  now making a comeback, having suffered from the general urge to trim calories. A little goes a long way, so start with ...

Loire Valley Tours offer a world of enchantment, which I first explored on a bicycle tour many summers ago. Returning a few years later, when I was teaching at a boys’ lycée at Châteauroux in the nearby Indre département, I interpreted for tours held for the U.S. Air Force to several dozen ...

I wrote this article for the magazine Great Wine News, and thought I’d share it with you. If you are looking for romance on your next trip, look no further than Paris. The City of Light exudes romance on so many levels, the beautiful architecture, amazing cuisine, and chic Parisians to ...

Cassoulet and Cahors Wine: Perfect French Winter Comfort Food Have you ever looked for an easy cassoulet recipe? Chilly winter evenings call for satisfying meals, preferably not hard to make, that fill you up and taste particularly good. It’s the dinner equivalent of relaxing before a roaring ...

Restaurant Wine Lists: See How You Can Order Wine With Confidence Restaurant wine lists can be intimidating. There you are at a nice restaurant for a fine occasion, perhaps while on a wine tour in France. You have some idea which dinners you wish to order. The wine steward delivers the ...

Pascale Bernasse Named Condé Nast France Top Travel Specialist Pascale Bernasse, President of French Wine Explorers, has been honored again this year with an enviable spot on the 2012 List for Condé Nast France wine tours, published by luxury travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler. This annual ...

 What is Armagnac? For an after dinner indulgence, a fine French brandy is in a class by itself. Cognac is the great favorite. But what is Armagnac? Armagnac, from the départements of Landes and Gers south of Bordeaux, also has fervent admirers. It has been enjoyed since the 14th century.  A ...

Burgundy Grand Cru Wines Tasted During Our Epic Tour The delicious goal of our Burgundy Wine Tour of the Grand Crus is to experience wines from all the Grand Cru vineyards in the Côte d’Or and Chablis. This is one of the best wine tours in Burgundy offering the opportunity to taste all the ...

How to Get to Bordeaux by Car, Train or Plane Bordeaux is a major city in the South of France and is: – Less than 3 hours from Paris by TGV (22 return journeys per day) – 45 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean – 2 hours from Spain – 20 minutes from the Bordeaux-Mérignac ...

  Discovering Margaux, the region and its properties, could well be the highlight of your trip to Bordeaux. Margaux is the largest of the six regions of the Médoc, and the farthest south. The 1,479 lucky people who live there reside in one of the most famous wine making regions on earth. ...

  Discovering Burgundy wine at the source: day Two of our Grand Crus of Burgundy Tour: After a fabulous welcome dinner at Le Benaton – a four-hour extravaganza! – we started the next day nearly recovered from the meal! Our first stop was in Vosne-Romanée at Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux. ...

On the Burgundy Tour featuring the Grand Crus of Burgundy we started with a short introduction to Burgundy, we were off to the Côte de Nuits for a late afternoon tasting extravaganza! Our first stop, Domaine Dujac Père & Fils in Morey-Saint-Denis, is an anomaly in Burgundy because the ...

The annual champagne tasting at Wide World of Wines in Washington, D.C., let us preview an assortment of fine champagnes for the holidays. Champagnes are a blend of Chardonnay (flavor and consistency), Pinot Noir (depth), and Pinot Meunier grapes (a touch of spice). “Blanc de ...

  Getting to Beaune is not an easy proposition if you live anywhere outside of western Europe. I am so glad I decided to arrive a day early, catch my breath, and awaken fresh for the gastronomique “workout” that lay ahead. French Wine Explorers, a tour operator specializing in ...

  Did you ever wonder about those retail store vintage notes, and point scores posted near the bottles? How helpful are these shortcuts? To answer this, let’s go back to basics. (More on our post on “Points are for Ping Pong…”)What is meant by a good vintage, and what do ...

Classification of Wines – What does all mean? The idea of classification of wines, and controlling wines from the standpoint of quality, is not a new idea. Centuries ago the Dukes of Burgundy decided that Gamay was an inferior grape, and banned its production. The Pinot Noir grape was ...