We think our tours are ideal for the wine-loving traveler...

Tour groups are made up of a small number of like-minded people, ideally from different places and backgrounds.  When we describe the groups as small, we mean no more than 10 members in each group.

Each group is made up of couples who share a common level of knowledge about wine appreciation;  some groups are advanced in their knowledge, others are made up of beginners and still other groups are folks who fall somewhere in-between.

All tours are of interest to enthusiasts who enjoy wine on its own merits and who wish to learn more about wine and its context.   We do not welcome on our tours those who are generally called wine snobs (that is, people who wish only to show how much they know and to put others in their place, on a lower rung on the wine knowledge ladder).  Our goal is to ensure that every traveler has the best time of their wine life with us.  This way everyone will want to come back for another tour and will also tell their friends about winesights.com.  Snobs will not help us achieve our goal.

Tours will be 7 to 8 days in duration and for southern Rhône tours start in Avignon.  This means our guests are responsible for travel arrangements to Avignon. 

North Americans typically travel to Paris and from there travel by train (we recommend the train, the fabulous TGV, as the best way to travel in France - for value, convenience and comfort) to La Gare Courtine (the Avignon TGV station) from which you are picked up and taken to our hotel, located in the heart of Rhône wine country. 

The tours travel from our hotel base for daily visits to vineyards, restaurants and selected general tourist sites.  Our guests  stay in this hotel for the duration of the tour; there is not a daily ritual of packing and unpacking in a new hotel each day.  We want to concentrate on meeting people and learning about their their wines, not packing and moving from one hotel to another.

We travel from the train station (or airport, as necessary) to our hotel and daily to the vineyards, restaurants and other sites on our itinerary in our private, air-conditioned sixteen-seater bus.  Our driver is a properly-licensed resident of the department of Vaucluse who both knows the countryside and who speaks fluent French and English.

We visit two or three vineyards on a typical day.  We have found that a typical visit to a vineyard requires 90 minutes to two hours.  Arrangements are made for time to be spent with the vineyard owners as well as the winemakers (when they are different people).  Our hosts at each vineyard often lead us on tour of their vineyards as well as conduct a visit to the cave and guide us through selected tastings of different vintages of various cuvees. The growers/winemakers are very proud of their products, processes and story and we wish to respect this pride, allowing our travelers to immerse themselves in the story at each vineyard.  Should you wish, you can purchase wines at the vineyards at direct-to-consumer caveau prices, or buy wines through private orders placed with our agency.

On one of the tour days take a break from wine tasting at vineyards and immerse ourselves in other aspects of life in the south of France.  For instance, on a southern Rhône tour we spend a day in the medieval walled-city of Avignon, ancient home of seven French Popes during the 14th century.  We take this break because we have found that even the most avid wine enthusiasts need a breather from formal wine tasting if only to give one's taste buds a chance to rest and re-charge.

Five dinners are hosted by Winesights, allowing us to enjoy the local wines as accompaniment to local fare. 

On at least three occasions we have special guests from the local wine community join us for a conducted tasting as part of the evening meal. 

Each evening we also review plans for the following day so that everyone approaches the day with an understanding of the context for the day (who we will be visiting, the history of the vineyard, the wines it produces, why the vineyards we will visit are part of the itinerary, etc.). 

Two evenings are "free" for our guests to select a local restaurant for their private dining.  We have compiled an extensive list of local restaurants for your consideration.

One evening of each tour is reserved for a special night out.  For instance, one of the major cultural venues in Provence is the Theâtre Antique d'Orange, a Roman amphitheatre reputed to be one of the best preserved in the entire Roman Empire.  This breathtaking structure dates from 25 BC and is the site of Les Chorègies, an annual festival of opera, ballet and drama.  Where the schedule of Les Chorègies permits, our night-out in the southern Rhône valley attends a performance at this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At the end of the formal tour, we return  you to the Avignon TGV station for your return home, or for an extended vacation, further travel on your own itinerary.

Details on specific tours will be posted as the itineraries are assembled.  In all cases the Winesights tour price includes the cost of all accommodation, meals (all breakfasts, lunches and dinners except for the "free" evening dinners, which are for the direct account of our guests) and ground travel arrangements from your arrival in Avignon (Gare Courtine) until you return to Avignon (Gare Courtine).