While you are embarking on a wine tour, you are also going to plunge into a real French Culinary journey, as the best way to experience wine is with good food.

We typically stay away from starred restaurant, as I specialize in very very good restaurants that are more accommodating to the tour necessities than the ones that Michelin celebrates. While Michelin starred restaurants are in the guide, It takes me a lot of research in the field to find the alternatives that will be able to deal with my standards, but I believe that in the end you will be really happy to dine in these less known but possibly more convivial restaurants, that take equal pride in what they serve.



GENERALITIES:

* If you have any food dietary or juste taste restrictions, please let me know at booking, but be aware that I may not be able to accommodate all specificities. As a general rule I believe that travels are for discovery, and maybe you will discover foods that you are not used to, but will enjoy a lot. I also think that food should be contemplated with your palate rather than eyes or brain. That said, I do not force people to eat what they have an aversion to, nor do we embark in my tours on a quest for challenging foods, after all we are talking of France, not some back jungle. We just try to broaden a little bit the landscape, somewhat beyond meat and potatoes or other celebrated dishes in America.

Again, talk to me if this is a concern..

* Other than that, I fix the menus, typically ahead of time with the chefs or restaurant owners.

* I find important that everybody eat the same (save for dietary restrictions) as this provides a common experience, some form of communion, that we may all discuss all tour long. It is one of the benefits of such a tour, that the others may add to the experience with their comments humor and philosophy. This is especially true for instance about food and wine pairing. For these reason, as well as because a journey like the one you are going to embark in, is a perfect opportunity to explore, I suggest that you open your mind to foods that you otherwise would not consider.

* I also have to decide what we are all going to eat in order to pair the wines accordingly. In essence the tour is a roughly 2 weeks long wine dinner.

* Since I know in advance where we are going to eat and what we could eat there, I am choosing dishes also in function of what the restaurant where we eat may have that is exceptional or rare, as well as seeking a diversity in the dishes along the duration of the tour.

* I will bring the wines for all our meals everywhere we go, save for the Eiffel Tower. This is because we want to be able to taste the wines from the tour's producers as often and in as many different situations as possible. This means that I have to convince the restaurants that they are not going to sell us wine. This is the most difficult thing I do, but it helps that I speak their language, literally and figuratively.


At this point if you have any doubt or concern, you may certainly ask me any question you have. You may also want then to read this review, as I think it summarizes very well, what I try to accomplish and how somebody with slight concerns experienced it.




BREAKFAST:

* Breakfast is provided and included at all hotels in the tour.

* Please note that this tour has meals that are able to satisfy most people's appetite, and beyond actually.




LUNCH:

* All lunches are included in this tour.

* Lunches are typically but not always 3 courses during the tour, in order to have mercy, if at a restaurant. When we have lunches provided by the wine makers, then they are more likely to be 3 or even 4 courses, but I do try to appeal to their sense of forgiveness, given that we can't eat like that for very long if we want to fit in the plane that will eventually bring us back home, given that most of us will have to do that sooner or later.




DINNER:

* I try to make dinners light, except in Paris and Nîmes, but we'll see how successful I am at that.


All this means that you might want to go on a diet 2 to 4 weeks before the tour!