Travel: time for the grape escape

Papal wines in Provence
Wine and Provence go together like, well wine and cheese, so check out the tours on offer from Provence & Wine, day-long affairs run by Avignon-born wine expert Romain Gouvernet, a graduate of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust in Paris, who spent his student days helping to bring in the harvest in in nearby Chateauneuf-du- pape and who perfected his English over two years in Ireland.

Repay the compliment by discovering one of the most fascinating wine regions in France with him, exploring the countryside on a walking tour through vineyards with visits for tastings and explanations of wine-making, from €125 per person. provenceandwine.com

Travel with experts
Group tour specialist Travel Department has a Bordeaux and Armagnac region wine tour this autumn led by a wine expert from Mitchell & Son, Ireland's oldest wine and spirit merchants.

The trip includes visits and tastings at some of the renowned vineyards of the regions including Chateaux Margaux, d'Angludet, Clarke, Beychevelle and, in Armagnac, de Laubade. Stay six nights in three-star hotel accommodation with Aer Lingus flights from Dublin to Bordeaux, including guided transfers, for €1,199, departing September 15th. traveldepartment.ie

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Raise a glass to the Loire
Explore the lush Loire Valley with a three-night break in Sancerre, not just to renew your acquaintance with its famous whites but to introduce you to its reds and rosés too.

As well as being one of the world’s favourite wine-producing regions, the picturesque village of Sancerre makes a beautiful base for a break too, perched atop a hillside with stunning views of vineyards (what else?) in all directions.

Because of the compactness of the village, many of the wineries in the area can be reached on foot with a three-day Sancerre package from Grape Escapes, with transport on hand to visit Pouilly-Fumé producers farther afield for more tastings, plus a five-course dinner at the Michelin starred La Tour restaurant.

Stay in three-star hotel accommodation in the centre of Sancerre for a package price starting at £483 (€ 603) per person. grapeescapes.net

On the road in the US

Hit the US wine trail with a tour of some of the top wineries in California. Harvest Wine Tours has a series of day-long tour options through the Napa and Sonoma valleys, home to 500 wineries, including a Grapes to Glass offering that takes in four boutique wineries in a day, with such activities as wine and cheese pairings, a picnic and of course tastings at each, for $130 (€98) per person.

Alternatively, hire a car and tour Sideways style, picking up one of its self-guided Discovery Tour options, a variety of self-drive itineraries each selecting four or five of the most interesting wineries in the region, for just $9.95. harvestwinetours.com

Crush a grape in Portugal
For a really hands-on wine holiday, play your part in the grape harvest. The Duoro valley region of Portugal, the world's oldest demarcated wine region and a Unesco World Heritage Site, is as beautiful a work environment as you could hope for.

Stay at the five-star Aquapura Doura hotel on the banks of the eponymous river in late September and early October to get not just your hands but your feet dirty by participating in the local grape-picking – and treading – of the harvest.

Or simply enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labour at the bar.

Stay two nights including breakfast, spa treatment, grape treading activities and a five-course tasting dinner, including flights and transfers, from £1,025 (€1,279) based on two sharing. vivid-luxury-travel.co.uk

Goodness grapecious

Les Sources de Caudalie, a wellness resort tucked into the vineyards of Château Smith Haut Lafitte, in Martillac, Aquitaine, was inspired by the so called French Paradox – the observation that the French seem to thrive on the kind of rich fare that would kill the rest of us.

The five-star hotel offers a raft of wine-based treatments including a wine maker's massage, which "recreates the ritualistic steps of the wine-making process on the body", plus a range of wine -based facials, wraps and scrubs. Ask nicely and they might even give you some to imbibe. A gourmet night's stay including breakfast, a meal in a Michelin star restaurant nearby with guided tour of Château Smith Haut Lafitte next door costs from €346 per night. sources-caudalie.com

Follow the Wine Geese
Savour the Irish input to winemaking with a Wine Geese Tour at Sean and Caro Feely's organic estate, Chateau Feely, in Saussignac, southwest France. Explore some of the historic wine estates of Irish origin in the Bordeaux region including Châteaux Kirwan and Lynch Bages. Stay in the Feely's luxury Wine Lodge accommodation, with views over their 30-acre organic, biodynamic vineyard.

A three-night, four-day package includes a tour of Bordeaux, a wine-making class and "slow food" walks through the vineyard as well as a wine tour to the Médoc. The couple won a gold Best of Wine Tourism award for the Bordeaux region last year and their Wine Geese Tour package is available year round from €649 per person sharing. frenchwineadventures.com

Meet the makers
No excuse is ever needed to visit Tuscany but as an added bonus, if you go on the third weekend of September you can join in the fun of the Vino al Vino festival, when the vintners of Panzano in Chianti, half way between Florence and Sienna, meet in the village square to show off their produce.

Buy a tasting glass for €12 and spend a night using it to sample their wares, quiz them about how they made it, or just to raise toast after toast to the jazz musicians tootling away in the corner. It takes place this year from September 18th-20th.

If you're staying a while, hang around for the Il Pigio just up the road in Poggibonsi which takes place in early October. Both the gloves, and the socks, are off here as the town's seven neighbourhoods battle to see which can stomp the most grapes. vinoalvinopanzano.com

Roam through Rioja

Experience the last of the summer sun, and wine, with a Rioja Vineyard Walk in Spain from wine tours specialist Arblaster and Clarke.

Taking place October 5th-11th, it takes you through vast vineyards that are perfect for walking, with kites, buzzards and eagles soaring overhead.

There's no better way to experience the terroir of a region than on foot and at this time of year, with the harvest in full swing, there's an additional wine buzz in the air, plus temperatures that are perfect for walking.

The trip begins in Bilbao with a visit to the Rioja Alta vineyards before moving on to Haro, the wine capital of Rioja and an ancient town on a hill over the River Ebro. Stay in a variety of accommodation including a hotel with a gastronomic restaurant at Rioja Alta, a four-star former convent hotel in Haro and a family-run Palacio in the Rioja Alavesa village of Samaniego, from £1,795 (€2,240) per person sharing. winetours.co.uk

Roll through Germany
For a super healthy wine tour, cycle the rolling hills of Germany's super scenic Wine Route in a circular trip along the Rhine and Neckar rivers.

Starting in the pretty village of Neustadt, at the foot of the Palatinate forest, and stopping off in Germersheim, Worms and Heidelberg in a 280km loop, it offers you seven days of cycling through vineyards, along quiet country roads and cycle paths.

Overnight stays are either in small hotels or family-run guesthouses, with tour-only prices starting from €499 per person, including breakfast and all-important luggage transfers. radweg-reisen.com