Wine hotels in France: stay at a winery

In France you can stay with the winemaker in almost every wine region: in a château, a chambre d'hôtes or a gîte among the vines. Below are the addresses we know, region by region, from Champagne to Corsica.

Champagne

In Cormoyeux, a village of barely 200 people in a side valley of the Marne, the Bochet-Lemoine family makes Champagne. On the estate they rent a gîte for six people, a house covered in climbing vines. More about the house in Champagne Bochet-Lemoine.

Château de Sacy is a nineteenth-century country house on a hill in the vineyards of the Montagne de Reims, twenty minutes from Reims. From the terrace and the rooms you look straight out over the vines, and outside there are hot tubs where you can have a glass of Champagne.

High above Champillon, between Reims and Épernay, Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa is a former coaching inn where Napoleon once stopped. The brasserie Le Bellevue has a Champagne list with many small growers.

In Reims itself you stay at La Caserne Chanzy, the former fire station of 1926 opposite the cathedral. Its restaurant is La Grande Georgette.

Burgundy

In Meursault, Hôtel Les Charmes is next to the Caveau de l'Hôtel Les Charmes, with almost 500 wines, including all the Premiers Crus of Meursault, at shop prices.

In the centre of Beaune, La Maison du Colombier has five apartments above the wine bar. A handy base for a few days of tasting in the Côte d'Or.

Alsace

Domaine Bott-Geyl in Beblenheim rents a loft of 250 m² above the cellars, for up to ten people, with a large terrace looking out over the village and the castles of Ribeauvillé.

Loire

At Domaine Beaumont in Distré, south of Saumur, Sarah-Jane and Gérald receive guests in their chambre d'hôtes, surrounded by woodland and four hectares of vineyard. You can taste with the winemaker in the cellar.

Rhône and Provence

M. Chapoutier in Tain-l'Hermitage rents a gîte for two people among the Hermitage vineyards, La Tour du Pavillon, looking out over Saint-Joseph and the castle of Tournon.

La Belle Vie is a nineteenth-century mas near the Pont du Gard and Uzès, with nine rooms and suites and a sommelier who focuses on estates from the Gard.

In the historic centre of Nîmes, Rouge is the restaurant of Margaret - Hôtel Chouleur, a listed mansion with eleven rooms and suites.

In Viens, high up in the Luberon, Les Davids rents holiday houses in the hamlets of the estate, for small and large groups.

Château de la Gaude is an eighteenth-century bastide in the hills ten minutes from Aix-en-Provence, looking out on the Montagne Sainte-Victoire: wine estate, hotel and spa in one.

In Bandol, in the quiet bay of Renécros, La Chipote is the restaurant of Hôtel Plein Large, with eight rooms looking out over the sea. The owner pours the wines of his family's Château Salettes.

Bordeaux

In Bordeaux you can stay at Château Haut-Bailly, Château Sénéjac, Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Château Troplong Mondot and Château Soutard. More about these five in Staying at a château in Bordeaux. On the coast, at the Dune du Pilat, Le Skiff Club is the restaurant of Hôtel Ha(a)ïtza.

Dordogne and Lot

Château Feely is an organic estate on a hill above Saussignac, near Bergerac. You stay in the Wine Lodge for four or the Wine Cottage for two, and can join yoga and wine tours.

Château de Mercuès is a thirteenth-century castle high above the Lot valley and the vineyards of Cahors, with a cellar carved into the rock beneath the gardens.

Corsica

Near Sartène, Julie and Philippe Farinelli spent more than 25 years bringing a forgotten thirteenth-century hamlet back to life. Le Hameau de Saparale has rooms and suites in the manor house and three bergeries with their own pool.