1) Bordeaux is France’s largest quality wine region and largest producer of AOC wine.2) The quality of its vintages drives the fine wine market globally. 3) Bordeaux’s rich history, commercial significance, mercantile mindset, size, and quality set it apart from other French wine regions.

Burgundy is a very dynamic region in a constant state of flux. On one hand it’s a region deeply rooted in tradition. Just take a look at the Fête de la Saint-Vincent tournante – a festival celebrating the patron saint of winemakers – and you clearly see that this is a region with one foot in the past. On the other hand...

I am pleased to share my Burgundy wine tour experience with the Wine Scholar Guild, as it was the trip of a lifetime.  My wife and I arrived a couple of days early and enjoyed fine wine and dining in Paris before our quick train trip over to Beaune (via Dijon).  We spent Sunday on our own, touring the Hospices de Beaune, wandering the city streets and having a lovely dinner.

There’s no wine region I enjoy visiting more than Alsace.  It’s beautiful, of course – and not just the half-timbered houses around which a profusion of flowers seem to float, or the grand hillside vineyards romping up to the forested Vosges mountains, always somehow bigger and more imposing in scale than those of Burgundy. The growers are fascinating characters, too, as if their historical and geographical position, wedged between (and much fought-over by) France and Germany, has given them an independence of thought which eludes those with a more settled position in each wine culture.  Then there’s the wines. It’s commonplace to say that Alsace wines are underappreciated -- but it’s true. For me, no white wine region can offer more diversity and intrigue than Alsace, nor does any single regional range of white wines appeal more to my palate...

Assisting trip instructor Gerard Basset MW, MS, our Tour Manager Sarah Beck-Graham reports daily on the learnings and encounters on our 2017 Bordeaux wine study trip taking place October 1st through 6th 2017. Sarah lives in Bordeaux and has 15 years of experience in the Bordeaux wine industry.  She has been manager of a top Right Bank chateau and worked for several top Bordeaux wine merchants. She now guides wine tours in the region and handles logistics for wine-related events.

… including excellent restaurants out in the wine regions. Preparing your next Bordeaux wine tour? Sarah Graham-Beck, Tour Manager on the Wine Scholar Guild’s Bordeaux wine tours will be writing a series of articles about travel tips to Bordeaux. In this first article, Sarah shares a selection of top Bordeaux restaurants with a great wine list! Food and wine are at the heart of life in Bordeaux. The city and its surroundings now offer some of the best restaurants in France, on a par with Lyon & Paris.

Summary: After giving you a brief overview of the Champagne region, Mary will share her experiences on how to best tour this mythical wine region. To fully appreciate this unique bubbly wine, it is helpful to come here and experience a walk through vineyards, feel pieces of the chalky soil and observe the hillsides around filled with vines. Meandering through the chalk aging cellars as well as meeting the different actors, from independent grower-producers to the