Le Ponant

Cap Corse, Corsica

Ponant Deck

Corsica Domaine

Le Ponant

Les Dentelles de Montmirail, Rhône

Arblaster & Clarke's Le Ponant Wine Cruise

31 August - 7 September 2011

Western Mediterranean Wine Cruise on Le Ponant 2011

The 2011 small-ship luxury wine cruise was in late summer on the beautiful sailing ship, Le Ponant.

The itinerary took in superb wines from the classic wine regions of the South of France, inlcuding the great wines of the Rhone, the ‘Super Tuscans’ of the Tuscan Coast and the great Barolos of Piemonte. There were on-board tastings and visits ashore to taste a panoply of great wines.

Gourmet lunches and dinners were served on the delightful open deck at the stern in one sitting. Lunches were accompanied by the wines of the producers who join us or are included from the ships’ list. Dinners were served with superb wines from the regions along our route, selected and commented on by Tim Clarke, the wine guide.

A personally escorted cruise on a luxury ‘Super Yacht’ with Arblaster & Clarke is always a wonderful experience. You visit small harbours and stop for impromtu swims. As the party size is small you soon get to know your fellow passengers and the crew and the atmosphere quickly becomes like a relaxed and very jolly ‘house party’.

See 2012 Wine Cruise

Western Mediterranean Wine Cruise Itinerary

31 August
We met in Nice in the late afternoon and set sail along the Côte d’Azur. Soon after sailing, we dropped anchor for a swim off the ‘lido’ at the stern of Le Ponant.
We enjoyed our first wine tasting and enjoy a gourmet dinner with Tim’s selection of fine Provençal wines.

1 September
We arrived at St Louis Port de Rhône. We had an included full day out to the southern Rhône. In Châteauneuf-du-Pape we visited the superb estate of Domaine Font de Michelle and enjoyed their superb wines over lunch.

On our return to Le Ponant we set sail westwards, heading for Sète in Languedoc.
Dinner wss onboard with wines from our favourite growers in the southern Rhône villages of Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise.

2 September
This morning there was a wine visit to Mas de Daumas Gassac, one of the top wine estates, if not in the whole Languedoc. Lunch wss back on board Le Ponant, but here was some time to explore the attractive harbour of Sète before we set sail in the afternoon.

Before dinner we had a comparative tasting of Muscats from the South of France including top wines from Frontignan, Rivesaltes, Lunel and Beaumes-de-Venise. Then over dinner we tasted a few of the most interesting wines from the Minnervois, Les Baux, Languedoc-Roussillon, Banyuls etc over dinner on board, served on the open deck.

3 September
We sailed east overnight to arrive just beyond Marseilles around breakfast-time at the pretty inlets known as ‘Les Calanques’. We moored up for a while here to swim. from here, t’s a short sail to the pretty fishing village of Cassis where we stopped for a couple of hours.

We were then joined on board by Domaines Bunan, one of the leading vignerons of Bandol. We continued sailing west and enjoyed their powerful reds and delightful whites over lunch. We stopped at the pretty island of Porquerolles in the afternoon and had a tasting of the excellent Porquerolles wines by the harbour.
Dinner was on board as we sailed towards Corsica.

4 September
This morning ran into the only rain of the week. We sailed into the pretty yacht harbour of St Florent, at the base of Cap Corse, Corsica. We had a tasting on board of Corsica’s top region, Patrimonio, which is just inland from St Florent. The Domaine Gentile wines were very impressive..

After lunch on board we set sail north around Cap Corse making a brief swim stop in a beautiful site near Nonza.
Dinner was onboard and with it we served a flight of great wines from the Northern Rhône including a couple of wines from Condrieu and Hermitage and Cote Rotie from Guigal.

5 September
We were due to have a visit ashore to taste some of the stunning ‘Super Tuscan’ wines at Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, one of the great Bolgheri wine estates but Strong winds stopped us from mooring off the south Tuscan coast. Instead we sailed to the sheltered bay of Porto Venere where we had a relaxing day including a tasting of Tuscan wines.

Dinner on board with more superb Tuscan wines including our favourites from Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino and Vin Santo.

6 September
In the morning we arrived in Savona on the west Ligurian coast. It’s an attractive town with many buildings painted with trompe d’oeil in the Genovese style. We had an excursion up to the great Piemontese wine region of Barolo. We visited two of the best estates; first the dynamic Ascheri and then lunch with the family at Cordero di Montezemolo.

A gourmet dinner was on board with more Piemonte wines including fine Barbaresco. We set sail in the late evening.

7 September
We returned to Nice in the early morning.

Arblaster & Clarke Wine Cruises – Watch the latest video on Athens – Malta 2010 on Panorama

Below is the latest video from Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours – from Arblaster & Clarke Wine Cruise on Panorama from Greece to Malta. For 2011 the Wine Cruise still has limited cabin availability (Le Ponant, Languedoc, Rhone, Tuscany, Corsica) see the Western Mediterranean Wine Cruise page for details.

The Ship

The SY Le Ponant has four decks
The top deck is the Sun deck, equipped with deck chairs. The Antigua deck accommodates Cabins 1 to 5, the bridge and the panoramic restaurant where casual but delicious buffet lunches are served each day.

The St Barth deck is the main deck. This is where you will find the comfortable air-conditioned lounge and bar; the gastronomic restaurant, the reception desk and the ship boutique. The bar area leads out onto another covered deck space and the swimming platform.

The Marie Galante or lower deck has the remainder of the cabins. Cabins 10, 12 & 14 on this deck have fixed double beds, the rest can be double or twin beds.

Notes

Meal Plans All meals were included, with wines.

Wine Visits Most wine visits and tastings are included. Bolgheri and Piemonte are optional extras. Prices to be confirmed.

Flights There are many different flight options to Nice.

Cabins The cabins are very comfortable and a good size for this type of craft. Please note that places on the cruise are extremely limited so do book as soon as possible.

Visit the Download Centre to download the Wine Cruise Brochure including deck plan now!