We are pleased to announce the two Waud Wine Club tours for 2015. The first in July is to the Rhone Valley where we return with the cars for a 3 day driving and wine tasting trip. The second tour will be a fly/drive to Barcelona and surrounds in September.
It is expected that these will both be sell out tours, so we will NOT be offering it on a first come first served basis as usual. We will review the response to the available places in the hope of accommodating everyone. Priority will however be given to members and their other halves in the first instance – it is now expected that all tourists are members of the club.
Rhone Tour – Wednesday 8th to Saturday 11th July 2015
We plan to take 24 tourists and hence 12 cars to the stunning Rhone Valley; the provisional itinerary for this three day trip appears below. This is an unmissable opportunity for the drivers to get their fast cars out on these great French motorways. The Tour Du Vin to the Rhone in 2011 was our first club tour and a great success it was too – so we know the form and have visited some of the proposed growers and venues before. In the last few years have developed more excellent contacts in the Rhone – so are able to open doors to some of the regions most iconic vineyards.
Day 1 will see us meet for lunch in Reims, then steadily head further south east to stay at our hotel for night 1 in Nuits St Georges in the Burgundy region – Le Gentilhommiere. This is convenient stop over point where we have stayed before and enjoyed its excellent cuisine!
Day 2 will be to Northern Rhone, where we plan to visit three of the regions most famous producers starting with Yves Cuilleron in Condrieu. We will then travel down the road to Ampuis to Guigal for a tasting and lunch. We look forward to trying their famous Condrieu, Cote Rotie and Hermitage wines. Our final tasting of Day 2 will be at Paul Jaboulet in Tain. Many of you will recognise their iconic wines as we offer them En Primeur each year.
The final leg of Day 2 will be heading to the Southern Rhone to our hotel in Grignan – Le Manoir De La Roseraie. This will be our hotel for two evenings.
After breakfast on Day 3, we will have a slightly more leisurely start before tastings at Domaine du Soumade in Rasteau, then to our friend Serge Férigoule at Sang de Cailloux in Vacqueyras.
Lunch will be taken in Beaunes de Venise before we head for the highlight of the tour at Chateau de Beaucastel. Those on the 2011 tour will tell you this is possibly the best tasting on any of our tours to date. Champagne reception and dinner will then be back at Le Manoir De La Roseraie.
Day 4 is a free day and you are encouraged to travel back to Calais for the shuttle at your leisure.
Price: £795 per person. (Hotels, food and wines included in this price) – the cost of return shuttle which should be booked separately by all tourists in person are just £55.00 per head currently.
If you would like to attend this tour, please let me know who you plan to travel with and email me at charles@waudwineclub.com