Arblaster & Clarke win the Sunday Times Tour Operator Challenge! — Posted on: 04/08/2011

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Tour operator challenge: Bordeaux

“Go to Bordeaux in early October, the picking should still be going on”

Two tour operators, one phone call, no second chances: we challenge them to take us on a wine tour of the Bordeaux region

Wine improves with age: the older we get, the more we like it. And although we’re no wine buffs, we do fancy learning a little more about the drink of the gods, and where better to do so than the hallowed hills of Bordeaux, birthplace of the world’s celebrity wines?

Arblaster & Clarke: “You should go on one of our Bordeaux Wine and City weekends,” says Arblaster & Clarke (01730 263111, winetours.co.uk). “The first night’s tasting introduces you to the left and right banks.” (That’s wines grown to the west and east of the Garonne river.) “Next day, we head to Château Lafon- Rochet, in the Médoc, where you’ll see how wine is blended. We’ll visit another left-bank commune in the afternoon — possibly St Estèphe or Pauillac.” Sounds intimidating. Will we be the special-needs oenophiles? “Not at all. This is the ideal introduction for beginners. On day three we’ll visit two or three communes on the right bank — St Emilion among them. You’ll come home with a good grasp of the basics of Bordeaux.” The cost, including hotels but not flights, is £590. There are flights to Bordeaux from 10 UK airports, plus Dublin and Cork.

After considering another tour operator offering Bordeaux as a destination, the Referee’s decision:

Jamie MacKenzie-Charrington, MD of wine merchant Hicks & Don and Bordeaux expert: “I know how easy it is to overload an introduction to wine with too much information. To try to cover white-wine-making, red-wine-making and the idiosyncrasies of Sauternes in one day is a bit too much. I would opt for Arblaster & Clarke. If you go in early October, the picking should still be going on, so there’ll be plenty to learn first-hand about production of red wine alone, and this can form the basis for further exploration of the whole subject.”

by The Sunday Times Published: 31 July 2011