- Wine Tour Destinations
Created in 2004 by wine lovers for wine lovers, we are a small team of passionate and well-travelled people who collectively believe that there is no substitute for knowledge and experience. We are delighted to provide an inexhaustible selection of holidays to Europe’s premium wine regions.
Our aim is to provide high quality, good value holidays and tours in the premium wine regions of Europe by adopting a flexible, friendly and knowledgeable approach to the planning and delivery of every element of each trip.
From our Premium tours as part of a small group in the world-famous regions of Champagne and Bordeaux, to exclusive birthday celebrations in Tuscany and mouth-watering gastronomy experiences in Piedmont, our expertise lies in creating your perfect wine tasting holiday.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our existing customers, for whom we have been delighted to arrange trips and whose feedback has been invaluable to us in perfecting the quality of our tours. A very large number of our customers return to us year on year and many more come through recommendations. The reason that we attract such loyalty from our customers is that not only do we provide an unforgettable trip; we also pride ourselves on giving superb customer service.
To create and curate perfectly tailored luxury wine experiences with passion and exceptional personal service.
To that end,
See here for information about joining the Grape Escapes team!
We believe that there is absolutely no substitute for individual knowledge and experiences, which enables us to deliver a truly personal service to all of our customers. We specialise in a limited range of destinations, so you can be sure that we have a deep and extensive knowledge of our featured regions.
We believe that you deserve the very best value and service, irrespective of whether you are spending £500 or £50,000 on your holiday. We keep our suppliers under constant review with regular inspections and assessments to ensure that the quality of service and welcome meet our high standards. We also closely monitor all customer feedback, which in turn enables us to consistently improve our offerings.
We offer a very flexible range of holidays to suit all tastes and budgets, and the majority of our standard packages are available mid-week and weekends throughout the year. In addition, we are able to arrange completely tailor-made trips! Whatever your requirements, we promise to have a tour for you!
With every Grape Escape, you will have the opportunity to visit a number of vineyards and wine-makers. We know from personal experience and consistent feedback that the most enjoyable tours are not necessarily given by the big names, but often by our carefully selected smaller growers who are always excited to share their passion for their wines with our guests. We therefore organise visits to a range of both small and large wineries and on many occasions, you will enjoy the privilege of being welcomed by the wine-maker personally.
An essential element of every Grape Escapes trip is the opportunity to enjoy the wines as the makers intended; alongside an excellent meal. We take the same care in selecting and recommending restaurants as we do with the rest of your trip. Meals arranged by Grape Escapes range from hearty and traditional as the guests of a winery to multi Michelin-starred tasting experiences; and everywhere in between.
We specialise in sending a large numbers of customers to a small number of regions. As a result, we have a buying power across Europe that provides us access to the best rates and consequentially, allows us to offer our customers a lowest price guarantee. If you believe that you have found a comparable package for less than the Grape Escapes price, we guarantee to match or even beat it.
Escaping since January 2023
Favourite wine: Really depends on who I am with and the occasion – I love trying new grape varieties and always bring back local wines from my travels so tend to have lots of variety on my wine rack. My favourite wine is one shared with friends.
Best travel experience: I love France but recently took part in a Wine and Whisky Safari in Scotland which was the perfect way to spend a Sunday!
Best dining experience: In recent years, a stop at Atelier & Co., a working oyster farm in the Languedoc region of France. After a boat tour in the lagoon visiting the oyster beds with the owner, we enjoyed a fabulous lunch. The service was excellent and the oysters, washed down with local white wines, were delicious. Just perfect.
Escaping since February 2022
Pet Peeve: Slow walkers
Random fact: I was in an episode of Eastenders riding a donkey
Best holiday experience: New Orleans Mardi Gras festival
Strangest food ever eaten: Crickets and ants in Cambodia
Escaping since January 2023
Favourite wine: Pinot Noir
Best travel experience: The Amazon rainforest in Peru
Best dining experience: Ristorante Da Guido – Relais San Maurizio, Santo Stefano Belbo
Strangest food ever eaten: Kangaroo steak
Escaping since June 2024
Favourite wine: Dry, crisp whites – preferably a Pouilly-Fumé or a Sancerre!
Best travel experience: Hard to pick just one! But three weeks backpacking in Japan will always be a very special memory to me. We ate incredible food, met amazing people, and had some truly unforgettable experiences. Cherry blossom season in Kyoto – perfection.
Top of the bucket list: A New Zealand road trip!
Escaping since June 2024
Favourite wine: Malbec or Sauvignon Blanc – however I can drink most wines!
Best travel experience: Working and travelling around Australia and Southeast Asia over 9 months. I drank a lot of wonderful wines in Australia and ate a lot of amazing food in Southeast Asia!
Top of the bucket list: A tough one. Either go on an African safari or go to Japan.
Escaping since July 2024
Favourite wine: My favourite wine is a St Emilion Grand Cru. I like a lighter red wine and the best I have ever tasted was at Chateau Le Chatelet in St Emilion – I even shipped a crate back to open on special occasions.
Best travel experience: Watching the sunrise over Mount Bromo in Indonesia after a shaky race to the viewpoint in the pitch black amongst hundreds of Toyota Land Cruisers. The car almost rolled over smacking into a huge tuft of grass in the darkened field of dust and dirt, and it was all worth it for the best view I’ve ever seen.
Best dining experience: Our waiter at Gallaghers Steakhouse in New York City entranced us with the ‘Cinderella Story’ of how their cauliflower side dish is now one of the most popular menu items. The classic speakeasy atmosphere, perfectly cooked steak, and entertaining service made this a memorable experience for me.
Escaping since November 2023
Favourite wine: Sauvignon Blanc
Best travel experience: Difficult to pinpoint the best and hopefully many more to come but so far, it was a road trip from Paris to Bordeaux, via Loire Valley, with a night in Tours. This was a truly memorable experience as we got to visit Château de Chenonceau, drive through the beautiful vineyards of St Emilion with a visit to a family-run vineyard, and managed to get sand everywhere after a visit to the vast Dune du Pilat.
Best dining experience: There’s a hidden gem just outside Bantry in West Cork called Donemark West. It serves high-quality local produce in a traditional little restaurant. Everything there was delicious, and the staff were beyond friendly. The brown soda bread in particular was to die for!
Escaping since November 2024
Favourite wine: Dom Caudron – Cornalyne
Best travel experience: Snowmobile races on the Langjökull glacier in Iceland – and winning
Pet peeve: Slow walkers…
Escaping since November 2024
Favourite wine: Can’t beat a dry Provence rosé in the sun
Favourite Grape Escapes destination: At the moment, it’s got to be Tuscany with its incredible food, wine and scenery. However, the Loire Valley and Provence make a close second!
Pet peeve: Anyone touching carpet or any material that feels like it – very weird, I know!
Escaping since November 2024
Favourite wine: Shiraz or Malbec
Best travel experience: It’s a tough one, but I think swimming with humpback whales off the island of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands (aka the middle of the Pacific) has to take the top spot.
Random fact: I was once paid a bottle of wine to be on a billboard for a winery.
Best dining experience: Ordering a seafood platter for one at a restaurant on the Isle of Skye and being served a mountain of some of the freshest seafood I’ve ever had (without having to share any of it!)
Escaping since April 2022
Favourite wine: Any red wine from Douro! Quinta do Crasto is one of my favourites.
Favourite Grape Escapes destination: Porto and Douro Valley, of course!
Strangest food ever eaten: I lived in Namibia for two years and had a few unusual gastronomic experiences during that time! I was once served crocodile as a main course!
Escaping since June 2018
Favourite wine: Depending on the mood I love a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, Rioja, or a pale Provence rosé. The nicest wine I’ve had so far was a white Chateauneuf du Pape!
Favourite Grape Escapes destination: It has to be France, perhaps most specifically the Southern Rhone and Provence as I spent six months living in Avignon and fell in love with this part of the world.
Best dining experience: One of my top foodie experiences was pintxos bar hopping in San Sebastian. Definitely a unique experience made all the more fun by the friendly locals and the sparkling wine that accompanied it!
Escaping since February 2019
Favourite wine : Rioja is my favourite red wine, although the white Rioja’s aren’t bad either 😊
Favourite Grape Escapes destination : Porto and the Douro Valley. The two complement each other so well, you get to experience a city and then finish up in the middle of nowhere – bliss! Although the windy roads to get to the Douro can be a little unsettling!
Strangest food ever eaten : Kumache in Venezuela which is a hot sauce containing red ants and termites!
Escaping since May 2023
Favourite wine: Red, preferably Cabernet Sauvignon. Best paired with steak or lamb!
Best travel experience: Cruising along the Nile river in Egypt.
Strangest food ever eaten: Crocodile tail at a restaurant in Mombasa, Kenya. It was surprisingly not that bad!
