Classic Wine Tour

Wine Cellar in Barcelona

Wine Cellar in Barcelona

Puglia

Puglia

The Mosel in Germany

The Mosel in Germany

Explore French, Italian, Spanish wine regions (and many more) on a Classic Wine Tour

There will be special appointments and high quality tastings at wineries and chateaux that are very well known or up and coming stars of tomorrow. These are private invitations to dine at wine estates so that you can taste the wines as they should be enjoyed, with traditional local food.

Typically an ‘Arblaster & Clarke Classic Wine Tour’ is a longer multi-centre wine tour to classic european wine regions and how you make the journey is part of the tour! The tour are will cover two or more regions in one country, or indeed travelling to two countries giving you an overview of the different regions. On a ‘Classic Wine Tour’, you will have the sense that you are on a tour that is a journey truly exploring the regions and offering a special and privileged insight, perhaps visiting parts of Europe that you may not have had the chance to escape to before. You’ll appreciate the differences and similarities in wine styles, grape varieties and wine making and taste some of the finest French, Spanish and Italian wines.

Go straight to Upcoming Classic Wine Holidays

Wine Guidance & Tailoring Your Wine Holiday

Our Wine Guides are experts, either Masters of Wine or wine journalists, who will help you gain a greater understanding of the wines. Like A&C, they often have great relationships with the wine producers and this is reflected in the welcome that you will be given at our chosen wine visits.

The wine regions are not only in beautiful countryside, but are almost always near towns and cities rich in historical and cultural interest. Knowing that our clients have many special interests beyond just the grape, we leave you some time to explore the cities on foot, and to visit the museums, art galleries and gardens. We can also arrange an optional guided tour with a local guide to give local background on the towns you are staying in on your wine holiday.

You can extend your wine holiday for a few days to give a longer break and more time to explore the wine region and surrounding area. The hotels are personally selected by our in-house team for their position and high level of comfort and wherever possible the local character. These are mostly 4* and 5*, but sometimes good 3*.

Where tours include flights we will endeavour to choose the most convenient scheduled flight times for the wine tour. These are generally with British Airways from either Gatwick or Heathrow. Where BA does not operate or where other scheduled airlines offer better timings we will include these flights instead. The itinerary and website shows which airlines we are using and the approximate time of day. As we are booking flights up to a year ahead, flights can change from Gatwick to Heathrow or vice-versa and schedules do change throughout the year. You should check with us before booking any connecting flights or preferably ask us to do this for you so that you can be booked onto the correct onward flights.

Joining Wine Tours on Location

If you would like to make your own travel arrangements for any of the wine tours we offer, you can join us on location. Several of the French tours are convenient to access by train or driving to the region.

Where a flight or train is included in the wine tour we can usually deduct the travel cost. On our coach tours it is also possible for you to travel out by plane or train and to come back with us by coach with your wine purchases. If your travel plans are different from the main tour please check with us at the time of booking if arrangements can be made for collecting you or dropping you off.

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Other Ideas and Past Tours

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Southern Champagne and Chablis Vineyard Walk

2 - 8 June 2013

Visit Chablis, northern Burgundy and southern Champagne on this wonderful walking holiday! Having recently re-visited the un-spoilt countryside of Champagne’s southern vineyards, the Aube region, we were inspired to offer thi…
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Galicia & the Douro Valley

26 - 31 May 2013

This unique Arblaster & Clarke wine tour of both Spain and Portugal combines two spectacular but less visited wine regions, Galicia and the Douro Valley. These two regions offer a range of wine varieties and styles: Galicia wit…
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Mosel, Pfalz, Alsace & Champagne by coach

27 October - 2 November 2012

The vineyards of Alsace, the Pfalz and the Mosel are among the most lovely in Europe. The wines have much in common too; most are white and fairly dry but we also taste sweet specialities and some good reds from Pinot. Stylisti…
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Rioja & Ribera del Duero

21 - 27 October 2012

This superb wine tour was the culmination of 23 years of Arblaster & Clarke’s wine touring in Spain. Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours has been offering top level tours here to meet the owners of leading estates since 1990. We be…
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Portugal - from the Douro to the Alentejo

15 - 21 October 2012

This superb Classic wine tour of Portugal takes us from the steep sided valleys in the depths of the unspoilt Douro Valley where we’ll discover the superb “table” wines produced by a clutch of dynamic younger wine makers,…
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The Great Wine & Food of Sicily

22 - 30 September 2012

Sicily has long been an Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours ‘Classic’ wine holiday and this up-dated itinerary visits Etna; features the fascinating cities of Syracuse, Palermo and Marsala and, as always on an Arblaster & Clarke …
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Barcelona, Penedes & Priorat Wine Tour

10 - 14 September 2012

Visit Priorat and Penedès, the famous wine regions of Catalonia, on this Spanish wine tour around harvest time, when there will be much activity and news from the wineries. Stay in 4* hotels in the magnificent city of Barcelon…
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The Grand Wine Tour of Italy

24 June - 3 July 2012

This tour, the culmination of many years of wine tours by Arblaster and Clarke in Tuscany and the rest of Italy takes the spirit of 19th Century ‘Grand Tour of Italy’ and applies it to our 21st Century Wine Tour of Italy. In ad…
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Puglia and Campania

9 - 15 April 2012

Our 2012 wine tour of Southern Italy explores the fascinating regions of Puglia and Campania. The Ancient Greeks called Southern Italy Oinotria, “the land of staked vines”, and they left behind a legacy of grape varieties t…
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New Wines of Greece

23 - 30 October 2011

Greek wine has changed beyond recognition over the past 25 years. The changes have been at least as profound as say New Zealand or Austria. The generation of pioneers has been followed by a new generation sporting their degree…
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The Great Wines & Food of Northern Italy

16 - 22 October 2011

On this gastronomic wine tour we’ll discover, at source, many of Italy’s famous delicacies in the culinary heartland of Italy, Emilia-Romagna and Piemonte. Explore the wonderful food markets and enjoy great wines along with the…
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Switzerland, the Jura & Burgundy by Train

11 - 17 September 2011

This unique and innovative harvest time wine tour takes in two very different wine regions, Switzerland and Burgundy, and travels through the Jura region between them making the journey part of the holiday. We promise those …
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Friuli, Istria & Slovenia

13 - 19 June 2011

This fascinating tour takes in three beautiful countries: Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. It combines the undiscovered wines of Istria in the north-west of Croatia, the world class whites of Friuli in Italy and the increasingly im…
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The Rhône by Train

25 - 30 April 2011

This superb Rhone wine tour is led by internationally acclaimed wine writer, Andrew Jefford, author of the New Wines of France and contributor to The Spectator, FT and other wine columns. The Rhone is France’s second largest …
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Burgundy & Beaujolais By Coach or Train

24 - 28 October 2010

This popular tour is a great introduction to Burgundy and Beaujolais. The tour includes visits to good Burgundy domaines and negociants who also offer good value, not always easy to find as well as a day spent out in the beauti…
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Southern Tuscany & Chianti Classico

18 - 23 October 2010

This fully revised Italian wine tour to Southern Tuscany & Chianti Classico encompasses two of Italy’s great classic wine regions. We start with the cult wine region of Bolgheri on the coast in Southern Tuscany. Our base …
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Alsace by Train

11 - 15 October 2010

Alsace must rank as one of the most beautiful and charming of all fine wine regions, it must also be the single most misunderstood! With its location on the German border and Germanic sounding grape varieties, it is easy to see…
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New Year in Turin

30 December 2009 - 2 January 2010

The Arblaster & Clarke New Year tours are a great way to relax after the hard work of Christmas and to celebrate in a beautiful location. These holidays have long been an annual A&C tradition and are enjoyable, convivial breaks…
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Puglia, Southern Italy

10 - 15 October 2009

Puglia, the heel of Italy is Southern Italy’s powerhouse wine region. The production is more than Germany and almost as much as Australia. This may seem surprising but it is not new, Puglia has been producing a lot of good wi…
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Stars of Rioja

23 - 27 September 2009

Join us as we take in an informal, yet in depth tour of this fascinating region of Northern Spain, whilst enjoying tastings with some favourite wine producers. The wines of Rioja have never been more popular, and quite rightly …
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New Year in Amalfi

29 December 2008 - 2 January 2009

The Arblaster & Clarke New Year tours are a great way to relax after the hard work of Christmas and to celebrate in a beautiful location. These holidays have long been an annual A&C tradition and are enjoyable, convivial breaks…
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Ravenna, Urbino & The Marche

26 - 31 October 2008

On this fabulous wine holiday we visit Le Marche which nestles between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennine mountains and has beautiful, unspoilt landscapes, dotted with many secret villages. One of the most dynamic of Italy’s win…
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The Loire by Train

25 - 30 October 2008

The base for the tour is the town of Saumur with its famous castle. Our hotel is a particularly comfortable well run 3* with a lovely, riverside position and a good restaurant. We start by looking at the local red, Saumur-C…
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Provence in the Spring

22 - 27 April 2008

Provence as an historical entity was created by the Romans, who regarded it as a ‘province’ of their empire and indeed, Provence saw the first plantings of vines in Gaul when the Greeks introduced them in the 6th century BC. En…
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Campania & Naples in the Spring

26 - 30 March 2008

This new itinerary explores Campania, staying on the bay of Naples convenient for our wine visits here and in Naples itself. The viticultural heartland of Campania is just inland from the volcano of Vesuvius. Here we find the e…
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New Year in Lucca

30 December 2007 - 2 January 2008

This relaxing New Years break stays at the unspoilt Tuscan town of Lucca and includes visits to three of this regions top wine estates. Lucca, Puccini’s birthplace, was an independent city-state until the nineteenth centur…
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New Year in Barcelona

30 December 2007 - 2 January 2008

The Arblaster & Clarke New Year tours are a great way to relax after the hard work of Christmas and to celebrate away from home. These holidays are long been an annual A&C tradition and are enjoyable, convivial breaks in comfor…
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Burgundy

21 - 25 October 2007

Visit the classic French vineyards of Burgundy just after harvest time when there are plenty of exciting new stories to catch up on, and when there may still be some activity in the vineyards and cellars. The vineyards will be …
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Corsica & Sardinia

16 - 23 September 2007

Both the Corsicans and the Sardinians are fiercely independent mountain people, paradoxically living close to the the sea but having traditionally little to do with it. Over the years the inhabitants of these islands tended to …
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Port & Barco Rabelos

22 - 25 June 2007

On the eve of Sao Joao (St John, the patron Saint of Porto) this normally subdued and hard working city goes wild. From the magnificent iron bridge built by Eiffel’s pupil, a breathtaking display of fireworks cascade at midni…
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Duero & Douro

28 May - 3 June 2007

This is a fascinating opportunity to follow the course of the River Duero from Spain until it becomes the Douro in Portugal and down to the river mouth at Oporto. This tour stays at luxurious accommodation, including at wine es…
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Puglia

Contact us for dates.

Our Autumn wine tour of Southern Italy explores the fascinating region of Puglia, the heel of Italy. The Ancient Greeks called Southern Italy Oinotria, “the land of staked vines”, and they left behind a legacy of grape vari…
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Rioja & Northern Spain

Contact us for dates.

This closely replicates our first Spanish tour in 1989. Then, as now we focus on the top wines of northern Spain and on visiting our favourite bodegas. We aim to show you the essence of this part of the real Spain, its rustic …
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Bordeaux (St Emilion) & Cognac by Train

Contact us for dates.

Arblaster & Clarke’s Classic Wine Tours by train are becoming an important part of our repertoire and we are pleased to include this special trip taking in the beautiful traditional wine town of St Emilion as well as the attrac…
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Tuscany in Harvest, small party tour

Contact us for dates.

With harvest in full swing in Tuscany at this time, the vineyards will be a hive of activity. This outstanding value tour gives you the excuse to get some Autumn warmth before winter! The vines on the gentle, cypress-tree dott…
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Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Chablis & Champagne

Contact us for dates.

For the best that the Sauvignon Blanc grape can produce, we visited the vineyards of Sancerre & Pouilly Fumé; to taste some outstanding wines made from Chardonnay we tasted at several small domaines around Chablis in Northern …
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Alsace and Mosel by Train

Contact us for dates.

This superb tour to Alsace and the Mosel has featured in the Arblaster & Clarke programme since 1989 and remained extremely popular ever since. We stay in Trier, the oldest city in Germany with many Roman remains. There is a…
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