As summer is here, you are certainly planning your vacations. For this year, we propose to put wine tourism at the heart of your vacation. To do so, the teams of Château Cantenac Brown propose you to discover this growing practice and to benefit from the best advices to prepare your trips.
What is wine tourism?
Wine tourism refers to the fact of discovering a region through its wine production and the various actors of the local wine industry. Perfect for adults in search of gustatory discoveries and for children in search of fresh air, wine tourism offers the opportunity to bring the whole family together in different wine regions.
In a concrete way, wine tourism allows you to visit the Châteaux and the different wineries of a region. You will discover the vines, the growing methods, the cellar and the architecture of the Château. Moreover, these visits are also punctuated by a time of tasting. This allows you to discover the estate in depth and to enjoy a moment of tasting at the very place where this wine was born. The different Châteaux that you can visit generally offer a tasting of different vintages to allow you to understand the impact of the climate on the production of wine and to better measure the possible evolution of the wine.
Of course, in most cases, you will also have the opportunity to buy a few bottles from the Château you just visited. This is the perfect opportunity to fill your cellar and remember the history of the bottles you will serve at your table.
How to prepare your wine tourism stay?
Preparing your wine tourism trip well is crucial to fully enjoy it. Therefore, we advise you to book your visit in advance. Some wineries have an online reservation module allowing you to book your place, your tour and your activities on site. For others, you can simply call to validate the possibility of coming. In general, we advise you to visit the website of the Châteaux you are visiting in order to notify them of your visit. To visit the Chateau Cantenac Brown, you can go to this page.
In addition, you can visit the website of the classifications or appellations of the castles you wish to visit. You can learn more about the history of these Châteaux and the geography of the area. For example, the site of the Conseil des Grands Crus de 1855 proposes a history of the Grands Crus de 1855 and a map allowing you to prepare your trips.
Finally, the Châteaux are always delighted to welcome you and to show you the work they do every day to sublimate the grapes and produce the nectar that will then arrive on the greatest tables. However, we advise you to avoid the harvest period for your visits. This is usually a time of great excitement and some Chateaux prefer to close their doors to concentrate completely on this important task.
How long will it take to visit a castle?
During your wine tour, you will have the opportunity to visit several castles. The duration of these visits varies between 1 hour and 3 hours. Indeed, the duration of a visit varies according to the size of the domain you visit, the route you choose and the time you wish to spend tasting.
For example, during your visit to Chateau Cantenac Brown, you will have the opportunity to walk through the vineyard, visit the grounds of the Chateau, enjoy the hundreds of trees in the grounds, discover the Tudor architecture of the Chateau, learn about the history of John Lewis Brown, or see the progress of our raw earth cellar. In addition to all of this, we offer a tasting of our wines. Of course, you don’t have to go through all the steps. Our different visit itineraries allow us to welcome you perfectly according to the time you wish to spend at the Château.
How to get to the Châteaux?
It all depends on the region you wish to visit. First of all, you can choose organized wine tours. Your travel will be taken care of and you will be able to abandon yourself completely to the discovery of these regions. Moreover, the castles are never far from each other. You can reach the first one by public transport and then do the rest of your visits on foot. This option will allow you to fully enjoy the landscape and the vineyards. Finally, you can also go to the castles by car or by bike. This last option will allow you complete independence and potentially extend your visit to the confines of an appellation or a region.
Why choose wine tourism for your vacations?
Wine tourism has many qualities for your vacation. Of course, you don’t have to take five full days to visit castles. However, if you take a vacation in one of the great wine regions, it would be a shame to deprive yourself of this discovery. As such, wine tourism allows you to meet people from the region who work with a local product all year round. You will be able to talk about the wine but also about the region you are visiting while discovering local products. This option is usually perfect for learning about the history of the region, its products and the people who make them, while having a great time in the fresh air.
You now know everything about wine tourism and all that remains is for us to wish you wonderful visits and, of course, hope to see you in our vineyards or at the Château.