Provence wine tour

Planet

The vineyards visited on the wine tour are almost exclusively organic. In addition some are bio-dynamic and others are natural. One of the tour's purpose is to educate participants about the benefits of these forms of agricultural and to support the vineyards that go to the extra expense and effort of producing wine in this fashion. By avoiding the use of chemicals in the fields organic, bio-dynamic and natural vineyards directly help the local flora and fauna. Many of the vineyards visited on the tour are located in regional nature parks and are home to rare species. For example the Luberon where the tour is based is the home of rare Egyptian vultures, and the largest species of lizard in mainland Europe. Participants on the tour are provided with local source mineral water and re-usable water bottles. The tour also supports efforts to educate the local children to value the regional nature park around them. See community section.

People

The tour company is based in Provence and pays taxes in France. From the catering, to the driver of the bus, the tour relies entirely on local businesses. Market visits provide an opportunity to support local artisans and farmers. All participants on the tour are provided with a welcome pack of artisan made local products, packaged in a bag designed by the children from the local school. Sales of the bag directly contribute to funding school outings in the regional nature park such as the "classe velo" and the "classe verte", the aims of both are to educate local children to respect and value the ecological richness around them. On the Friday of the tour guests are also encouraged to visit the Chateau de Lourmarin, which is run by a local arts foundation. The Chateau helps keep alive the performing arts in a rural area by putting on performances of classical music by young internationally recognised performers.