— This is an ideal trip if your time in France is limited. Although Burgundy and Bordeaux are hundreds of miles apart, our hosts have planned a program inviting you to enjoy both these popular winegrowing regions in the space of a single week. Click for additional details & pictures.

You'll be met by Paul Cadiau in Paris, and travel down to Beaune, the heart of Burgundy. You'll stay at Le Cep, the town's best hotel. For the next three days, Paul has planned visits and tastings with his friends at some of the best estates and leading négociants in both the northern Côte de Nuits and the southern Côte de Beaune. Then he takes you on a lovely drive through the vineyards of Beaujolais, ending in Lyon, where he puts on on an afternoon flight to Bordeaux.

You'll be met at the airport by one of our Bordeaux-based Masters of Wine, James Lawther or John Salvi. From your new lodgings at the Relais de Margaux, a four-star hotel in the Medoc, north of Bordeaux, your host has planned a full day visiting the famous vineyards of the Médoc, home to well-known chateaux like Margaux, Latour, Mouton-Rothschild. He's also planning a private lunch with the owner of one of the properties.

Next day he takes you to the medieval wine village of Saint Emilion and wine-tasting at properties like Cheval Blanc and Figeac, as well as a chateau in the Graves. Plans call for a final morning to visit the city of Bordeaux itself, then your host puts you on the train back to Paris. You'll have two hosts, both specialists for their region. An enchanted, whirlwind week that gives you a fresh perspective on the wines of the two best-known names in France wines. Could you ask for more?

What you can expect:

  Private visits and tastings at First Growths. Also at less famous estates whose wines your hosts think you should know about.

  Extensive gastronomic and cultural visits. Lunches and dinners in Châteaux, Michelin-starred restaurants, and grandes brasseries.

  Elegant hotels in Beaune and in Margaux

Bastille Day Option

  In July, your trip returns to Paris on Friday evening so you can be on hand for Saturday's Bastille Day parade along the Champs Elysées. Seven nights in all, three in Burgundy, two in Bordeaux, two in Paris [at the four-star Hotel Westminster].