Frequently asked questions about my wine tours

Six to ten on a scheduled departure. Six is the number at which a departure is confirmed; ten is where I stop selling places, because a long table for ten still lets everyone hear the winemaker. Private tours run from two people up to twelve, and the group is yours alone, whether it is one couple or three families.

Couples, pairs of friends, solo travellers, and the occasional colleague from a restaurant floor on holiday. Some guests cook seriously and want to see where the bottles on their table come from. Others know very little about wine and simply like a long lunch in a village. Ages run from the thirties to the seventies. What they share is patience for a slow day and curiosity about the person pouring.

Both, on purpose. On most routes you will sit in a cellar that adds nothing at all in the morning and in one that works with cultured yeast, steel and a careful dose of sulfur after lunch. I respect both and take neither side; the interesting question is why this winemaker chose this path on this hillside. If you want only one camp, a private tour can be built that way. My longer view is in what I pour and why.

The pace is unhurried: two, at most three, cellars a day, drives of under three hours, and a proper lunch in the middle. Walking means vineyard paths, village streets and cellar stairs, perhaps three or four kilometres on a full day. Cellars are the honest difficulty. Most were dug rather than built, so expect steps down, uneven floors and no lift. Tell me what you need before booking and I will say plainly which routes work and which do not.

Less than the itinerary suggests. A tasting pour is 30 to 40 millilitres, a cellar shows five to eight wines, and over a day you might meet twenty. Nobody is expected to finish a glass. I make sure there is a spittoon in every cellar, and I use it myself before lunch. Wine with meals is poured properly but not pushed. There is always water and bread on the table, and the last glass of the day is usually the one you remember.

Yes, and they will not be bored. These days are built around tables, landscapes and the people who farm them, not around alcohol. A non-drinker sees the same cellars, eats the same lunch, and usually asks the winemaker the best questions. In Armenia and Georgia the food alone justifies the trip. I charge a reduced price for a non-drinking guest; we agree it when you book. Fair warning: hosts pour generously, and declining takes a firm, smiling hand.

Food is half the point. I build every route around tables: a family lunch in Rind, bread pulled from a tone oven in Kakheti, a trattoria in the Langhe, a Moravian cellar supper of bread, lard and pickles. Vegetarians eat very well everywhere on these routes; vegans and coeliacs need a little more planning, and I do that planning myself with each cook in advance. Tell me about allergies when you book, not at the table, and I will make sure nobody guesses.

Whichever the group needs. I speak Czech, Russian, English, Armenian and Italian, and a scheduled departure runs in English, Russian or Czech, sometimes two at once. At the cellar door I speak Armenian in Armenia and Italian in Italy, which changes what a winemaker is willing to tell you. In Georgia, France and Austria many of the winemakers I visit speak English; where they do not, a local colleague sits with us and I make sure nothing said at the table is lost.

Solo travellers are part of every group, and a table of eight absorbs a newcomer within the first glass. Prices on the tour pages are per person sharing a double room. If you want a room to yourself, there is a single supplement; it depends on the hotels on that route, so I quote it when you enquire rather than print a guess. If you are happy to share with another solo guest of the same sex, I will try to pair you and waive it.

Scheduled departures are for adults only, 18 and over. This is a wine tour with long lunches and long silences in cellars, and a child would be bored by the second tasting. On a private tour the group is your own, so the answer changes: a day can be planned around a family, with a shorter cellar programme, a lunch children will actually eat and a lake or a fortress in the afternoon. Say how old they are and I will tell you honestly what will work.

Everything that happens between the meeting point and the farewell: all nights in the hotels and guesthouses listed for that route, every cellar visit and tasting, all wines at meals, all meals except one or two free evenings, and a minibus with a driver so that I can turn round and talk. Not included: flights, travel insurance, those free dinners, and whatever you buy to take home. Each tour page has an includes and excludes list; if something is on neither, ask.

Write to me by email, WhatsApp or Telegram from the contact page and say which departure you have in mind. I confirm there is space and send an invoice for a deposit of 25 percent; the balance is due 60 days before departure, both by bank transfer. A departure is confirmed once six guests have booked. I tell you the moment that happens, and only then should you buy flights. No online checkout, no automatic anything: you deal with me.

If I cancel, because a departure does not reach six guests or for any other reason, you get every cent back within 14 days. If you cancel more than 60 days before departure, you lose the deposit. Between 60 and 30 days, half the price is due. Inside 30 days, the full price is due, unless I can fill your place, in which case only the deposit is kept. This is why I insist on travel insurance with cancellation cover.

Neither. You book your own flights; each tour page names the start and end city, and I send arrival times and a meeting point once the departure is confirmed. I can suggest connections from Prague, Vienna or wherever you live. Travel insurance with medical and cancellation cover is a condition of booking. Armenia and Georgia are outside the European Union, so a European health card does not work there, and even in Italy a good policy is cheaper than a cancelled week.

Yes, and the winemakers appreciate it; the cellar-door price is usually the best you will see. Within the European Union, buy what you like: there is room in the minibus, and most guests check a padded twelve-bottle box on the flight home. From Armenia and Georgia, the duty-free allowance into the EU is four litres of still wine per adult, so choose with care. A few estates ship to EU addresses; I will tell you which ones, and I can help you combine an order.

Spring and autumn are my seasons everywhere: warm days, cool evenings, harvest smells in September. Vayots Dzor sits at 1,000 to 1,600 metres, so bring a proper layer even in June; the Langhe in October can be foggy at 08:00 and shirt-sleeves by noon. Cellars sit around 12 to 14 degrees, so a sweater goes in the day bag. Closed shoes with grip for gravel and cellar steps, a hat, nothing you would mind spilling wine on. Nobody dresses for dinner.