Wine Paths

A Wine Travel Platform Based in Bordeaux

Wine Paths is a wine and spirits travel platform rather than a tour operator with its own guides. Its site works in two ways. Travelers can browse a "curated selection of the best wineries, distilleries, hotels and restaurants" and "contact them directly" to book tastings, stays or tables, or they can send a request to a local expert who designs "a tailor-made vacation or tour package." The contact panel lists these partners as "DMC, wineries, distilleries, hotels, restaurants or wine bars," so the tours themselves are run by the members and the local experts, with Wine Paths as the marketplace and planner in between. The company's address is 49 Rue Camille Godard in Bordeaux, France.

The destination menu covers France (Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Cognac, Languedoc-Roussillon, the Loire Valley, Normandy, Paris, Provence and the Rhone Valley), Italy (Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont, Puglia, Sicily, Tuscany and Veneto), Spain, Portugal, Argentina (Mendoza and Salta), Chile (Colchagua Valley and Santiago), South Africa (Cape Town, Constantia, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch), the USA (Napa and Sonoma in California, plus Kentucky for bourbon), Scotland for whisky, England for London gin and Puerto Rico for rum.

Tour Suggestions and Member Experiences

Destination pages carry tour suggestions credited to a named local expert. On the Chile page, Claudio, the Chile Local Expert, offers Flavors of Santiago (the historic center and Santa Lucia Hill, an ice-cream stop at Emporio La Rosa and wine with tapas at Bocanariz), Casablanca Valley and Scenic Valparaiso (a visit and tasting at Bodegas RE, a guided visit of Valparaiso, a funicular ride and lunch included), and the Chile Signature Wine Vacation in Colchagua Valley over 4 days, with wineries in the Colchagua and Apalta valleys. The page also mentions a Don Melchor visit in the Maipo Valley and a combined Chile and Argentina journey.

The Argentina page lists Wine and Astronomy in Mendoza with a local astronomer, a Bike and Wine tour among Mendoza vineyards, a cooking class with the head chef at Susana Balbo winery, sparkling-wine making at Cruzat Wines, an olive oil course at Familia Zuccardi and a 3-day Deluxe Wine tour of Mendoza. Its expert is Jorge, the Argentina Local Expert. Other suggestions on the page include a premium-wine journey taking in Nicolas Catena's Catena Zapata and a walking tour of Buenos Aires neighborhoods such as San Telmo and Palermo, and the page points to Salta for some of the world's highest vineyards and its Torrontés.

The Chile page goes further into the wine itself: Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Syrah from Colchagua, cool-climate whites and Pinot Noir at Kingston Family Vineyards in the Casablanca Valley, and lunch under the vineyard pergola at Clos Apalta Restaurant. It also offers help choosing wine-country hotels, including Relais & Chateaux properties.

The homepage shows member experiences that are booked with the estate itself: a vertical tasting at Chateau Phelan Segur ending with cold meats and French cheese, a dinner in the Caveau de Chateau Trottevieille, and an experience built around LOUIS XIII cognac. Regional blurbs point to France's wine regions, Italian food and wine pairings and the Douro Valley in Portugal.

How Booking Works

Destination pages carry a "Request a Booking" form asking for travel dates, the number of adults and children, country of residence and a message about activities and children's ages. The form is addressed to "our local expert," and the homepage says "All our local experts have been selected for their expertise in creating tailor-made tour packages and vacations." For the do-it-yourself route, the Plan on Your Own page tells travelers to pick member wineries, distilleries, hotels and restaurants and "contact them directly" to book; it says each member was "carefully selected" for quality and customer satisfaction.

General inquiries go to a French phone number, +33 (0)5 57 78 43 47, or an email address. The site also offers gift cards and a newsletter.

The destination pages add practical planning notes. The Chile page gives seasons (spring from September to November and autumn from March to May as the quieter shoulder months, harvest from late February to May) and suggests Santiago as a base, with over 126,000 hectares of vineyards around the city; it adds that the harvest festivals, the Vendimias, bring grape stomping, music and tastings. The Argentina page gives flight times of about 2 hours from Buenos Aires to both Mendoza and Salta, and calls fall, from March to May, "perfect for wine enthusiasts."

The People Behind It

The team page lists the shareholders. The president and founder, Stephane Tillement, is described as a tourism entrepreneur with over 30 years in luxury travel and the owner of Mauriac Voyages, a French luxury travel agency. The winemaker Michel Rolland is a shareholder, and the page says he has worked with more than 250 wine estates and that his "selection of preferred wineries" appears on the site. The Argentina and Uruguay ambassador is described as living in Argentina since 1984 and helping develop the Fabre-Montmayou bodega. Brand ambassadors cover Argentina and Uruguay, China and other markets, and the team page lists a sales and marketing lead with 20 years in tourism product management.

What the Site Leaves Open and Who It Suits

The tour suggestions carry no prices, dates or group sizes, so a quote is the only way to learn cost. The site does not publish booking terms such as deposits or cancellation windows on these pages; a Terms and Conditions link sits in the footer. It also does not say which company operates a given suggestion on the ground, or how a local expert is paid, and whether a member booking made directly with a winery falls under any Wine Paths policy is not explained.

Wine Paths suits wine and spirits travelers who want access to well-known estates, especially in Bordeaux, Mendoza and Chile, and who are happy either to book tastings direct or to have a local specialist assemble a private trip. The named experts and specific producers make the suggestions concrete. It suits less well anyone wanting a fixed-price group tour to book online in one step, or a single company responsible for every part of the trip.