Winetasting in Europe

[BuffysBigSister]

Thinking of doing a 5 or 6 day trip to Europe next year with a friend. Be lovely to do a bit of wine or Champagne tasting but also have access to some culture & good food. Any good suggestions?

We did this tour from Barcelona winetourismspain.com/244/1-day-winery-and-wine-tasting-tour-from-barcelona/

Are you thinking of taking a car and buying some wine, or just dropping in to taste?

If the latter then you will need to do some planning, because with the exception of some touristy places, the general model is that tastings are free because you are sincerely planning to buy some wine. Certainly in France. In Alsace a tasting can take two hours and you will not be fit to drive at the end of it, but the general expectation is that you're going to take a dozen bottles away.

A "touristy" wine tasting costs €20 or more, and consists of a tour of the winery (this gets pretty samey after the third one), followed by 3 or 4 very small glasses of their low-end wines, and perhaps a small tapa or two. These are not hard to find in areas where northern European tourists arrive by plane and do not have space in their luggage to take 6 or 12 bottles home.

We definitely won't be driving and buying loads of wine. We will be doing the "touristy" thing. Alsace is one of the regions I would like to visit. Thanks for the info.

Lyon, cote du rôtie wines, amazing food, things to look at.

You can certainly find touristy tastings in the pretty villages like Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé, on days out from Strasbourg or Colmar.