Tailor-made breaks for Private Groups

To give you a flavour of our holidays please see the itinerary below. However, each break is tailor-made to your precise wishes. Please click for information on the excellent range of accommodation or restaurants,wine tasting levels and other activities. As each holiday is arranged to suit you, please ring Minette Constant in France to discuss your ideas further. Tel: ++ 33 (0)5 59 81 40 95.

The most cost effective solution is for you to organise your travel and accomodation yourself having asked me for ideas and I will be available for as many wine tastings and vineyard visits as you wish. My fee (excluding any wine) is €225 for a half-day tasting or €300 for a full day, with both a tasting and a vineyard visit or two, excluding lunch.
 
 Early morning mists over Bouillon with the Pyrenees' Pic du Midi d'Ossau in the distance.

Sample itinerary

Thursday Arrive at Pau airport early afternoon from either London (Stansted) or Paris (Orly Ouest). Light lunch at Château de Bouillon. After lunch, there will be a white wine tasting with 8 wines. The level 1 course is structured to give an introduction to wine appreciation. It will look at pairs of wines from the same grape variety, grown in different climates, some in Europe and some in the New World. The Level 2 tasting will have a theme, for example the effects of oak on our appreciation of wine. Whichever level you choose there will always be plenty of time for your questions. After the tasting, there will be a refreshing cup of tea, before leaving for your hotel, where you will have time to unpack and relax. We will meet before dinner at your hotel, to enjoy an aperitif.

Friday Following a leisurely breakfast in your hotel, we will visit an excellent boutique vineyard, Domaine de Cabidos, owned by the Comtesse de Nazelle. It has recently been replanted and is producing superb dry and sweet white wine. Lunch will be in a local ferme-auberge in the village of Morlanne, where everything is home-grown and you might try duck, grilled on an open fire or roast with a rich stuffing. This afternoon we will look at sweet wines and fortified wines and the famous brandy of the region, Armagnac, can also be included. These styles are often over-looked these days: quite wrongly in my opinion as they are some of the most delicious of all and although they are expensive to produce they are sold at remarkably keen prices for the quality level. In the evening, we will dine out, perhaps at the handsome ‘Pain Adour et Fantaisie’ which has one Michelin rosette and is on the banks of the Adour river.

Saturday After breakfast, you can indulge in the luxurious thermal spa treatments at Eugénie-les-Bains, which use the beneficial waters in a variety of herb scented baths, water jets or gloriously smooth mud baths. Alternatively, you might prefer to play a round of golf, either on an attractive 9-hole course or slightly further afield on the oldest course on the Continent, near Pau, which has 18-holes. Lunch will be in a good nearby restaurant, perhaps at Duhort-Bachen or in Pau, depending on whether you are at the spa or playing golf. In the afternoon, there will be a tasting of 8 carefully chosen red wines. Level 1 will look at pairs of grape varieties and we will also cover cellaring wine and food and wine combinations. Level 2 will be on a theme, such as ‘Single varietals or blends: why and when? ’ Again there will be plenty of time for any questions. On your last evening, you will enjoy a delicious dinner. I would suggest trying Michel Guérard ’s 3-rosette restaurant, Les Prés d ’Eugénie, which is the pinnacle of classic French cooking.

Sunday After breakfast at your hotel, there will be a champagne tasting at Bouillon. Level 1 will look at sparkling wine from the New World as well as champagne so you can decide which occasions suit which wines. Level 2 will look in depth at the differences between styles and villages in Champagne. There might well be an outsider but will it be easy to spot? You can have a light lunch at the airport and buy your foie gras and wine (a good selection, guaranteed to be at the same price as at the vineyard). Your flight leaves early afternoon for London or around 3pm for Paris Orly Ouest. There is one flight a day to London but for Paris there are at least five flights to Orly and three to Roissy Charles De Gaulle.

©David Carlisle

This is a very full itinerary and you may well prefer something more relaxed.

Please ring Minette Constant in France to discuss what you would prefer on +33 (0)5 59 81 40 95.