About Arblaster & Clarke
Arblaster & Clarke - Wine Tours
Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours was founded in Autumn 1986 by Tim Clarke and Lynette Arblaster who brought respectively wine and travel expertise, and almost more important, a passion for wine and a love of travelling.
The firm has grown steadily since then, offering more tours and more destinations each year, in many styles to destinations all over the world. These include our Vineyard Walks and an annual Wine Cruise. We have been offering Opera & Wine Tours for many years and now offer Opera holidays in Italy too.
Arblaster & Clarke is without doubt the most successful Wine Tours operator worldwide. However it is still a small operation, is very hands on, and is personally run. When you call A&C to discuss a tour, you will speak to someone in our team who knows the tour, the area, the hotels and the wines. This may very well be the person who designed the tour or who will actually take it as the Tour Manager or Wine Guide.
The company is based in England, and is fully licensed and bonded. See Consumer Protection
Our Wine Guides
On tour you will be accompanied by a wine expert. Our guides are the best in the business, and include many of the most eminent members of the British Wine Trade.
Some people worry that they may not "know enough" to travel with a "Wine Guide" - Is this right?
Absolutely not, our Wine Guides are friendly and approachable, and they appreciate that in a party there will be all levels of experience and interest. If you don't know much about a region, all the more reason to travel with a Wine Guide. The wine guide will make the region make sense, and put it in the context of other regions (and the world!). The Wine Guide can give you the inside story, the gossip, the real history, the run down on the vintages, the producers and the wines, without the PR, the sales pitch or national chauvinism.
Many of the guides are MWs - Masters of Wine, (the highest qualification in the trade) such as Derek Smedley, Jane Hunt, Arabella Woodrow, Nicola Achdeckne-Butler, Conal Gregory, Rosemary George, John Avery and James Lawther. Others are well known wine consultants Steven Spurrier, Andrew Jefford, Charles Metcalfe, Robert Joseph, Gordon Ritchie, Andrew Williams and our own Tim Clarke.
Generally they are joined by one of our Tour Managers, who helps ensure that all runs smoothly and keeps your glass topped up!
For more details see our Guides
