Visiting the wine country to taste and enjoy at the source is something we envisage as central to our activities. It’s the best way to understand and appreciate wine, for by visiting a wine region and meeting the producers, we are then able to place wine in the context of the land from which it comes, the people who make it, the local foods and gastronomy, the unique culture of a place.

Castiglione Falletto, in the heart of the Barolo wine hills

Le Langhe and Le Marche, Italy
We are not a travel company, but visiting the wine country to taste and learn and enjoy direct at the source is very much part of what we are all about. Therefore, we plan to arrange occasional informal trips to the wine country to visit our producer friends.

Our first Club Vino trip took place on September 23-35, a visit to the Barolo wine hills to see Mario and Luisa Fontana and to taste and experience the wines and foods of Le Langhe at the source. Here's a report about this wonderful and hugely successful weekend.

In 2006 we will be looking to organise future trips, possibly to Le Marche or to Tuscany. And we would like to organise a Club Vino weekend to Champagne sometime this year, as well.

La Salvetat, Périgord, France
We also plan to offer Vino wine tours to the Dordogne where we can all enjoy a sojourn in the family hotel-restaurant La Salvetat, owned and run by Kim’s brother Steve and his wife Ann. Their restaurant has an outstanding reputation, with local French chef Fabien Culine in charge of the kitchen, serving both the traditional foods of the Perigord as well as a lighter and innovative modern cuisine. La Salvetat, we’re certain, will be an ideal base for Vino wine and food tours. (see www.lasalvetat.com)