Classic Wine Tour

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

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! 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.

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.

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.

You can extend your wine tour for a few days at the end to give a longer break and more time to explore the final destination.

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 tour, and these are generally with British Airways from either Gatwick or Heathrow. Where BA does not operate the route 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 on Location

If you would like to make your own travel arrangements for any of the tours in the brochure, you can join us on location. Several of the French tours are convenient to access by train or self-drive.

Where a flight or train is included 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. There is no deduction for not taking the coach in one or both directions.

If your travel plans are different from the main tour please check with us at the time of booking what arrangements can be made for picking you up or dropping you off.

View Other Ideas and Past Tours

Tours

Malta and Gozo

11 - 15 March 2012

This year, for our Early Spring escape to the sun, we have chosen the fascinating Islands of Malta and Gozo. If you know nothing about Maltese wines, or are bemused to hear that they are worthy of interest; you will, like pr…

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…

Trentino & Alto-Adige

27 May - 1 June 2012

This wonderful tour in the shadow of the Dolomites northeastern Italy visits the Trentino and Alto Adige regions to taste their great wines. We start in style near Verona, with lunch at Serego Alighieri, a leading producer …

The Grand Wine Tour of Italy

24 June - 3 July 2012

This fabulous new tour takes the spirit of 19th Century ‘Grand Tour of Italy’ and applies it to our 21st Century Wine Tour of Italy. In addition to wonderful wines we’ll be taking in Italy’s beautiful gardens, famous historic s…

Rioja & Ribera del Duero

2 - 8 September 2012

This Spanish wine extravaganza is the culmination of 23 years of Arblaster & Clarke’s wine touring experience in Spain, we believe this may well be our best tour to the region yet! Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours has been offer…

Georgia

7 - 15 September 2012

Tim Clarke spent the spring of 2011 writing a wine tourism strategy for Georgia. In the course of this, he became convinced that it could be an amazing tour. There are some startling facts about Georgian wine. This small countr…

Barcelona, Penedes & Priorat Wine Tour

10 - 14 September 2012

Visit the Priorat and Penedes, the famous wine regions of Catalonia around harvest time when there will be much activity and news from the wineries. Our wine tour starts just outside Barcelona in the main vineyards of the S…

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 and revised itinerary visits Etna; features the fascinating cities of Syracuse, Palermo and Marsala and, as always on an Arbla…

Classic Tuscany

8 - 12 October 2012

A wonderful blend of respect for tradition and a determined attitude to increasing quality makes Italy one of the most exciting wine regions of the world, and nowhere more so than Tuscany. On this tour we’ll visit those estate…

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,…

Rioja & Ribera del Duero

21 - 27 October 2012

This superb wine tour is 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 bel…

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…

Sherry & Andalucia

18 - 23 February 2013

Andalucía is startlingly beautiful with the Sierra Nevada rising dramatically from the sea. The area has mild winters and most years that we have offered this tour in February, we have had fine warm weather with blue skies. Ad…

View Other Ideas and Past Tours

Arblaster & Clarke

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Client Comments

"I would like to thank you for the excellent and most enjoyable tour. Your input and enthusiasm, together with Leoni's support, gave the already well organised tour the extra dimension and made it special - thank you."

— PS, Tuscany, 2009

"For single rooms without a supplement I was pleasantly surprised! I most enjoyed the wine visits, dinner at Latour and the lunch visit in Chablis."

— PH, Sancerre Pouilly-Fumé, Chablis & Champagne 2009

"As good as we always expect! Nice variety of wines and good company."

— VH, Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Chablis & Champagne

"Great opportunity to taste fine wines. Tour itinerary was well balanced. Alex and Andrew were great fun!"

— J&T W, Great Wines of Northern Spain 2008

Having just experienced this itinerary under the very experienced leadership of Tim Clarke, or as we learnt to call him after he was christened at Livio Felluga by the daughter of the house, "the master", a title he bore with grace and not a little amusement, can I say it's a delightful tour. Only the second we have taken with Arblaster and Clarke but I suspect not the last as you pile new temptations into your brochure. Stars of the show for me were Dveri Pax and Simcic Marjan, the meal at Monte Restaurant in Rovinj and Tim's exposition on the history and geography of the Malvasia grape. But there were plenty of highs. Would I change anything - well perhaps the local guide in Ljubljana on the last day, personally likeable with good English she failed to guide and we meandered rather aimlessly both in terms of geography and content. But that is a small point and compared to the mass of positive experiences hardly worth the mention I have given it. Thank you for taking me to places I never thought of going to and getting me to taste wines that were never less than interesting and often revealingly good.

— S.R Friuli, Istria & Slovenia 2011

"We are most grateful to you for sending through the impressive list of sherries and wines that we tasted and drank last week. Ann was thrilled to find a few of the Manzanillas we tasted in Jerez at our local Waitrose branch today, so she was forced to immediately make a few purchases! It was a marvellous trip - please accept our gratitude for your wonderful fact-filled and fascinating guidance. As our first experience of A&C, Jerez and sherry tasting, I can think of no better way than losing one's 'virginity' in that respect!"

— B&AA, Sherry & Andalucia 2010

"Our hosts at each vineyard went out of their way to welcome us and take time to talk about their experiences. Even more so given they were in the middle of the harvest in Beaujolais. Paul, our guide, was excellent, approachable and knowledgeable. Enjoyed his company!"

— RB & JB, Northern Rhone & Beaujolais Crus Vineyard Walk

Caron, I just wanted to reiterate that last week was one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling holidays I’ve had in years and years. Of all the trips that Arblaster & Clarke has done, I doubt that any has been more pioneering and exciting than that. There was a very tangible sense of being the first group ever to do this, and this was clearly a factor in the amazing, heart-warming, welcome and generosity that we received. I expected it to be the highlight of my year, and I knew how well looked after we would be; but the beauty of the place, the welcome we received and the climate meant that it clearly beat even high expectations. And you probably don’t realize what a weight you took of my mind by dealing with my passport issue without me even having to mention it. You are quite amazingly organized and efficient! THANK YOU.

— RCB

Arblaster & Clarke - Wine Tours Worldwide

Classic Wine Tour

Joining on Location

Tours

Malta and Gozo

Puglia and Campania

Trentino & Alto-Adige

The Grand Wine Tour of Italy

Rioja & Ribera del Duero

Georgia

Barcelona, Penedes & Priorat Wine Tour

The Great Wine & Food of Sicily

Classic Tuscany

Portugal - from the Douro to the Alentejo

Rioja & Ribera del Duero

Mosel, Pfalz, Alsace & Champagne by coach

Sherry & Andalucia

Arblaster & Clarke

Download Centre

Client Comments