From flinty Loire Valley whites to broody cognacs, the French sure know how to handle a grape. After all, they’ve been practising viticulture since the 6th century BC, so there are grounds to believe they’ve extracted just about every secret the plump fruit has to give up. In honour of their mastery, we’ve put together a selection of the best destinations in France for tastings at wine escapes, vineyard tours and cognac bars, where each region’s signature tipple will be pride of place.
BURGUNDY
The gourmand
Covering the swathe of east-central France that stretches south from Dijon, Burgundy punches above its weight in all things gourmet. There are the wines, of course, with legendary reds and whites grown on the sloping vineyards of the hilly Burgundian terroir, but it’s also the birthplace of beef Bourguignon, a hero of Gallic cuisine, as well as mustards (hello, Dijon) and gougères, a Gruyère cheese puff traditionally served as an appetiser. Its centuries-old châteaux, monasteries and abbeys provide the historic pedigree (Fontenay is the oldest Cistercian abbey in the world), and outdoorsy types will find a lot to love exploring Burgundy’s rock towers, caves, canals and protected forests.
The tipple
Burgundy produces some of the best Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Gamay wines in the business. While their fame and prestige is in no doubt, it isn’t always easy to get up close and personal: Burgundy doesn’t do large-scale wine tourism in the same way as, say, Bordeaux, and many producers don’t offer walk-in tours or regular tastings. It’s worth contacting local guides with connections on the ground, like the team at Burgundy Discovery, who’ll curate an itinerary for you. Two estates that do have a relaxed door policy are Château de Meursault (excellent whites) and Château de Pommard (dark and intense reds).
The stay
Bed down at Como Le Montrachet, which occupies several buildings in the village square of the hamlet Puligny-Montrachet. There’s excellent French fare on offer in the restaurant (say, Charolais beef, or pike-perch from the Saône river), and the sommelier can point out wines from the hotel’s vineyard neighbours.
BORDEAUX
The big-hitter
Probably the most famous wine region of them all, Bordeaux also takes the prize for being the best dressed. The city’s grandeur rivals anywhere in France except perhaps Paris, which has a lot to do with its Port de la Lune, once the second busiest harbour in the world. By the 18th century, so much money was flowing into Bordeaux — and wine flowing out — that it was in a golden age, building the neoclassical museums, art galleries and hôtels particuliers still standing today. Wine remains a keystone of the culture, but food is hitting new highs, with an increasingly impressive restaurant scene that’s been turbocharged by an influx of ex-Parisians, including top chefs who’ve journeyed south from the capital.
The tipple
Bordeaux and wine have been bedfellows since Roman times, when the first vines were planted in the region. But it owes its dominance to another, slightly unexpected bloodline: thirsty English aristocrats. It all started back in 1152, when Henry Plantaganet married Eleanor of Aquitane, giving him control of Bordeaux and its vineyards. When he became King of England two years later, the ground was laid for the English court’s obsession with ‘Claret’ (Bordeaux wines). By the 1300s, the upper crust was getting through so many casks that the shipping traffic between Bordeaux and England exceeded any other route on earth.
Tastes have broadened since then, but the demand for Bordeaux wines remains. You’ll find that tastings at some of the really fancy wineries like Château Margaux and Château Latour are mostly reserved for industry insiders, but there are plenty of impressive châteaux that aren’t, including Pichon-Baron, Smith Haut Lafitte and Beauregard, which shares the same Pomerol appellation as Pétrus but sells its top wine for about 1/30th of the price.
The stay
The grape looms large at Les Sources de Caudalie, a superlative spa retreat on the Château Smith Haut Lafitte estate in Martillac. It’s home to the Vinothérapie Spa, where French skincare brand Caudalie harnesses the antioxidant and mineral goodness of grapes and vines. The hotel’s two-Michelin-star-awarded La Grand’Vigne is one of the best restaurants in Bordeaux, and bar Rouge doubles as a tasting room for the neighbouring wine estate.
COGNAC
The emperor’s choice
Found within the Charente départment in southwestern France, the Cognac region is a slow-travel paradise, best savoured at leisure — a bit like the bottles of brandy produced at its iconic distilleries. Many Cognac houses stand on the banks of the Charente river (claimed by King Henry IV of France to be the most beautiful in his kingdom), meaning you can cycle between them or hop aboard a river cruise that’ll motor you from tasting to tasting. Beyond the town there are white-grape vineyards, farms, orchards and beautifully-preserved mediaeval villages, making it prime road-trip territory.
The tipple
Made from double-distilled white grapes aged in oak barrels, Cognac is France’s most sought-after spirit, and supposedly Napoleon’s favourite drink. After visiting Courvoisier’s warehouse near Paris, he ordered several barrels of their cognac to be loaded aboard the ship that carried him to exile on St Helena — much to the delight of the British Navy officers tasked with keeping an eye on him. Along with Hennessy, Martell and Rémy Martin, Courvoisier is one of the so-called ‘big four’ Cognac houses, and you’ll get an excellent tasting at any (or all) of them.
The stay
Hôtel Chais Monnet & Spa is a hotel with spirit — quite literally, seeing as it’s a former distillery on the banks of the Charente. Its interiors of oak, iron and buttery leather are as rich and comforting as the spirits in the bar, a former cooperage stocked with over 300 cognacs from more than 40 houses.
LOIRE VALLEY
The royal flush
Cradle of the French, Garden of France, Valley of Kings: the Loire has racked up quite a collection of nicknames over the centuries. In a way, all three can be reduced to a single source, the valley’s famously fertile soil, which allows grapes, orchard fruit, artichokes and asparagus to thrive. And where there are good things to eat, there’s money to be made, making this a lucrative pastoral playground for royals acquiring estates. There are at least 300 châteaux in the valley, including some of the largest and most opulent in France — Chenonceau, Chambord and Château de Villandry among them. Beyond the great houses, there’s plenty of land with a wilder face, including scenic waterways, wooded islands and ancient forests to explore.
The tipple
The Loire is the longest wine region in France, with five distinct areas: Nantes, Anjou, Saumur, Touraine, and Centre-Loire. It’s one of the most diverse, too, making it hard to pin down a classic style but making it more fun for tastings. Whites are traditionally the biggest export, with Sauvignon Blanc dominating in Sancerre and Chenin Blanc taking precedence around Tours and Saumur; Château de Sancerre and Domaine Delaporte are well worth a visit in these parts. Punchy Cabernet Franc grapes are Loire’s main red variety; try Olga Raffault, who has built a loyal following for her classic Chinon Cab Franc.
The stay
Owned by former art dealer Anne-Caroline Frey, Loire Valley Lodges near Tours is nothing like the classic maisons that tend to become hotels in these parts. You’ll stay in a contemporary treehouse styled by one of her talented friends (including graffitists, photographers and sculptors), surrounded by 750 acres of Douglas fir, oak and chestnut trees in the Duporterie forest.
CHAMPAGNE
The celebrant
‘Come quickly, I am tasting the stars,’ said Dom Perignon, the 18th-century Benedictine monk, upon first sampling his effervescent homebrew. If that touch of the heavens sounds appealing, it’s high time to head to the source. Covering the chalky plains between Paris and Lorraine, Champagne is the easiest wine region to get to from the City of Light, lying just south of Reims, the region’s unofficial capital and crowning place of French kings for more than 1,000 years. The vineyards are often planted on gentle hills, punctuated by the occasional château or windmill and watched over by hushed villages with cobbled streets. Below ground, there’s a hidden world made up of 200 kilometres of tunnels, where bottle after bottle of the good stuff is kept at a steady 12°C.
The tipple
For all its association with good times, Champagne’s fame was born from a fiery youth. The region had a centuries-long war of the wines with Burgundy that saw both sides duelling over who made the better booze, going as far as paying doctors to write papers on whose wine would cure more ailments. It was all for the best in the end, as Champagne’s winemakers eventually gave up, ditched the reds and focused on sparkling whites made with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier grapes. Get a sweeping sample and hit several top makers in a single day by traversing Épernay’s L’Avenue de Champagne, a who’s who of top producers including Moët & Chandon, Perrier-Jouët and Pol Roger.
The stay
Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa is a bricks-and-mortar bon viveur in the vine-swathed fields just outside the village of Champillon. Its interiors are sleek and sculptural, with a rich vein of classic French enchantment, and a laissez-faire approach is encouraged whether you’re being soothed in the spa or taking a tasting at chandelier-lit bar Abysse.
Craving a glass? Quench your thirst with our collection of wine escapes