Backroads Bourgogne Wine Tour

• You’ll learn so much more than you would on your own! During WSG tours, our internationally renowned instructors are always with you; providing fascinating information, answering questions, and clarifying facts and figures to ensure understanding of the nuances and subtleties of each region and its wine styles.
• Camaraderie! And the experience of exploring new wine regions with other like-minded individuals who are just as passionate and obsessive about great wine as you are!
• Access to amazing wine tastings and estates you would not be able to visit on your own. With personal and long-standing relationships in each of the regions we operate, WSG has some of the highest-level contacts in the industry. As a WSG study abroad participant, you will have the opportunity to taste incredible wines at each estate and will be welcomed as an honored guest everywhere you go.
• All our WSG instructors have lived or worked in France, Italy, Spain, or other countries in which we operate, for many years. This has allowed them to cultivate extensive experience and contacts within the region. You’ll get expert information about the wine business, and an insider’s take on local culture.
• Avoid taking chances on hotels or restaurants you don’t know.  With more than a decade of experience, our guides use first-hand knowledge to select the best hotels and restaurants for your enjoyment.
• Make the most of your travel time! Our itineraries minimize driving to ensure you receive a thorough overview of the region, taking in the breathtaking landscapes and amazing wine culture of each respective region.
• Avoid driving, navigating or directions. Feel free to relax and enjoy wine your meals in the comfort of a safe and carefully curated learning environment.
• Your WSG instructor and Tour Manager will translate for the group at all times, eliminating communication or language barriers, as many winemakers in France, Italy and Spain may have limited English proficiency.

Our WSG Study Abroad Educational Wine Tours offer end-to-end full-service wine experiences with all lodging, and most meals included. You may move locations throughout the week and visit up to three wineries each day.  This tour provides a deep-dive experience into the vineyards, cellars and local winemakers of your chosen region.

WSG Masters Program Immersion Courses provide a 360-degree view of a region via three days of in-depth classroom instruction, extensive tutored tastings along with two days of location specific field study. These programs build off of existing WSG course content and are available to new students, current students and alumni. Course materials are included in the price, and you can take your certification exam for the corresponding program once you return home.

For Masters Program Immersion Courses, hotels are not included in the price, but we are happy to provide options for all budgets once you reserve your seat. Lunch is typically included on field days only, with free time on classroom days to source lunch at your own expense. Group dinners are also included with the remaining three evenings at your expense. Many students prefer the structure of classroom learning combined with the free time of this format. It is also well-suited for those who wish to be more social, as students quickly become friends with others in the group.

We request that all guests on our trips are serious and passionate about wine, however, there are no official prerequisites for WSG Study Abroad experiences. 

For most Educational Wine Tours and all Masters Program Immersion experiences, you will receive study materials in advance once your balance is paid in full, or 120 days before travel. To get the maximum benefit from the trip, we highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the content provided in advance. 

WSG Studio is also an excellent resource and contains hundreds of topical recorded lectures and webinars on many of the regions we visit. For trips that do not include study materials, we will generally send a curated selection of webinars to watch in advance.   

The following trips include enrollment in the corresponding online Masters Program: 

• Champagne Masters Immersion in Reims 
• Bourgogne Masters Immersion in Beaune
• Bourgogne 
• Backroads Bourgogne 
• Champagne 
• Bordeaux  

If you're a graduate of the program, or are currently enrolled, you are eligible for the "Enrolled Student Price" ($300 discount) when paying your final balance. Study materials and access to the online classroom will be provided when payment is received in full (or a minimum of 120 days before the start of the trip). Students have one year from the date their final payment is made to complete the online exam. Extensions, at an additional cost, are available.

The trip begins and ends directly in the wine region you will be visiting. Transportation to and from the meeting and ending point is up to you. All trips will start and finish in a city with major rail links and/or airports, for your convenience.

Information on trip starting and ending points are included in the itinerary. You’ll be sent all the information you need to make your travel arrangements once you have reserved your spot.

Our instructors have arranged professional-level tastings at some of the finest estates in each region.

At all the estates, you'll receive a warm welcome and an educational tasting often with the winemakers themselves. In most cases, you will tour the technical facilities (vat room and aging cellars) in addition to your tasting. You may taste from the barrel or vat in addition to recent and older vintages in bottle. Tasting locations may vary. Sometimes tastings will be held in the cellar, in a tasting room and other times outdoors.  

Some visits may include a vineyard tour with the winemaker to discuss vineyard management and harvesting. If the winemaker doesn’t speak English, the instructor will translate for them and for you, if you have questions. Each estate visit is unique: at one winery, you might witness a cooper making barrels; at another, there may be beautiful gardens; at a third, a special art exhibit or museum. 

Please ask the instructor if there is enough time at the end of the visit for you to make your purchase without impeding the progress and timing of the trip.  Not all estates sell wine on-site. In Bordeaux, for example, very few of the Classified Growth Châteaux actually sell wine at the château (they sell exclusively through wine merchants). It is rare that estates offer international shipping.   

If you would like to purchase wine, we recommend that you ask your government’s customs office for their rules and regulations if you intend to bring wine back into your country, or have wine shipped to you. 

You always have the option of bringing wine home with you in your checked luggage. A specialized wine suitcase is perfect for this. Depending on your home country, this amount will vary. You may have to pay taxes or duties on your wine at customs. Please check with your local authorities for further information. 

During the day, it's best to bring clothing that is casual without being unkempt. Please avoid sweats, old sneakers or gym clothes for example. Especially for our visits to First Growth Châteaux and other very prestigious estates, where slightly more elegant attire is requested and appreciated. Wineries and cellars can be damp, and quite cool in temperature. Please consider layers for on-site visits.

We'll be doing quite a bit of standing and some walking, plus cellar floors can be damp, so it would be best to avoid high heels and opt for comfortable shoes during the daytime. For walks in the vineyards, you’ll want appropriate walking shoes, boots or sneakers. For the evening, do consider bringing dressier more appropriate clothing for dinners in elegant restaurants. 

We choose 4-star hotels to ensure a high level of comfort, including en-suite bathrooms, WiFi and air conditioning.  It’s very important for the hotels to be well situated in the region, to keep driving time and distance to a minimum. We want to make sure you are as close as possible to the vineyards and other local sites of interest. The hotels we choose also must be large enough to accommodate groups.

We thoroughly check each hotel before including it in a WSG tour or program. In wine regions that are large and spread out, you may change hotels once or twice during a week-long stay (to keep driving times to a minimum each day). In other regions, there may be only one centrally located hotel.

In most of the hotels yes, the rooms are identical. However, exceptions may occur in many of the charming French, Italian or Spanish hotels located in historic buildings. 

There may be differences in the size of the rooms, the view from each room may vary, the decor may be slightly different etc. Since many of these hotels are also small, it is sometimes difficult to reserve the quantity of rooms required all in the same category. In this case, we fill the rooms in the order of sign-ups, filling the highest category rooms first, to reward those who sign up quickly.

Rest assured, all rooms have the same lovely level of comfort and services (A/C, WiFi, en-suite bathrooms, TV, etc.). No guest will receive a “bad” room, the rooms may just not all look exactly alike.

For Educational Wine Tours: the majority of meals are included in the trip price. You’ll enjoy lunches and dinners at excellent establishments that offer finely prepared dishes.  

Most dinners are gastronomic and include three or four courses; lunches are gourmet but somewhat lighter so you can stay alert during your afternoon visits and tastings. 

Most of the time, there will be a set menu expertly selected for your enjoyment, paired with preselected special wines of the region. Meals offer great opportunities to discuss food and wine , of course! 

Most trips include a few lunches and/or dinners on your own, so you may opt for a local restaurant or lighter meal of your choosing.

For Masters Program Immersion Courses: these experiences typically include a welcome dinner, a farewell dinner as well as one or two lunches during your. Days at the vineyards. These meals will be paired with selected local wines. The rest of the meals are at your choosing and expense. WSG and/or the group instructor will provide a list of some dining options for you to consult.

For group meals included in the price of the program, premium—and sometimes quite prestigious—wines are expertly selected from the region you’re visiting to perfectly pair with each dish.

Meals offer an opportunity to taste wines from appellations that may not be represented in the winery tastings or to introduce you to some interesting or unusual wines your instructor feels merit your attention. 

There are usually several different wines served with each meal.  At all meals, we include a minimum of a half-bottle of wine per person.  All wines included in your trip are meticulously chosen by the instructor.  You are always welcome to purchase additional wine or other beverages at your own cost, in addition to those provided. 

We do our best to accommodate special needs and dietary restrictions. It's usually possible to provide a substitute meal or dish if an individual cannot have what the group is eating. Please inform us of your allergies or intolerances in advance, upon registering for the tour or immersion course. We will do our best to accommodate.  The reservation form includes an area to specify dietary restrictions. If you have not informed us beforehand of your specific dietary needs, we cannot ensure these will be met.  

WSG trip instructors are among the most renowned and respected wine professionals in the wine business. They are also professional wine educators, highly knowledgeable and absolutely passionate about the region and wine styles they represent.

You will see a full biography of the instructor(s) for each program on the corresponding page, so you will know exactly who you'll be touring and learning with.  Most are native English speakers (American, British or Australian), and all other instructors speak English fluently. Our instructors have that a special combination of high-level wine expertise, personal warmth, friendliness, and excellent leadership skills. They'll accompany you every day, throughout the trip program, and will be able to answer any questions you may have about the wines of the region you’ll be visiting (and about wine in general). 

During study abroad tour and immersion programs, our Tour Manager is on-site to handle logistics, making sure all details of the tour and programs run smoothly. This allows the instructor the opportunity to devote their time solely to instructing! The Tour Manager's duties include liaising with the bus driver, the restaurants and hotels before and during the trip. The Tour Manager is also responsible in for making sure that the group is punctual for all visits, meals and drop-offs. They handle any emergency that may arise and are also there to assist you with any additional questions you may have.

All WSG Tour Managers are consummate professionals. Residing in the country they work, with years of experience in the vino tourism and/or wine industry. They are also completely bilingual in the country they serve.

Yes, we strongly encourage you to purchase a very comprehensive travel insurance package once you have paid your deposit. Note that many plans require you to purchase insurance very soon after your deposit payment (some require it within 14 days).  

There are any number of things that can occur and cause cancellation or interruption of your travel package. Travel insurance can help cover the costs you incur as a result.  You will find many travel insurer providers websites available and can easily compare insurance policies online. For example, Insure My Trip: https://www.insuremytrip.com

Be sure to read insurance policies very carefully before purchasing.  Include your airfare, train fare, and any other expenses you may incur in addition to the price of the study program itself.  We highly recommend purchasing a “cancel for any reason” policy, which offers the best and most reliable coverage. Travel experts say, “if you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel." Please don’t skip this important step!

WSG Study Abroad Tour and Master Immersion Program participants may include a wide variety of "wine students." Whether wine industry professional, educator or serious wine aficionado or collector wishing to learn more extensively about the wines of France, Italy, Germany, Portugal or Spain. Some participants may be seeking WSG certifications, others may not. All will share in a passion for wine.

Yes, you need to be in good physical condition to actively participate in a WSG Study Abroad or Immersion Program. You can expect to be walking short distances into the vineyards, from your hotel to dinner (i.e. 10-15 minutes at a time), walking through wineries, up and down stairs, and often standing in place for long periods of time during a winery tour and tasting (sometimes there is no place to sit in the winery). 

Yes, definitely.  We keep group size to no more than 16-18 participants, to make sure that all participants receive individual attention.  In Bourgogne and Piedmont, where wineries are very small, we limit groups to 15 participants. A smaller group size may also allow us to use a smaller motor coach, so we can take smaller, more scenic country roads and maneuver more easily through narrow estate access points. It also enables us to visit exclusive estates that do not accept large groups or transport vehicles.