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Contrast Tours / Contrast Wines

Contrast Tours organizes unique voyages. that flow seamlessly, providing the ultimate experience in Contrast Tours takes full charge of your travel.
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We meticulously plan every detail so that your travel time is maximized for enjoyment and exhilaration. Our tours are unique and take you in places that would be difficult for you to access on your own, let alone in the comfort and style we deliver. All our tours are all inclusive, and are protected with travel insurance. You can count on the perfect experience.

11/10/2024

Q/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: La Rouviole certainly received us in a very tasteful fashion. 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

   

11/10/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: Domaine La Rouviole’s Vintner’s dog, is making sure the cooking gets done in the purest tradition. 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

   

11/09/2024

I interrupt the normal Contrast Tours stream as I am in tears after seeing this: 2 brothers (you can vaguely see one arranging these flowers) who own a flower shop just brought this to us Durham citizens, as an attempt to heal us from the sorrows this errant Country has been producing this week.

11/09/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: the visit at Domaine La Rouviole in the Minervois included a great lunch. And this is part of the appetizers. 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

   

11/07/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: we started the visit at Domaine La Rouviole by a tour of the new chai that Denis Arquie conceived, and then we tasted some of the very recent 2024 harvest off the tanks in which they were finishing there macération. 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

   

11/04/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: normally we can see the Pyrennées from La Rouviole where we are now, in the Minervois. But we can’t always have sunny weather, after all the south of France can use rain to replenish water reserves.

And La Rouviole will still make the visit very enjoyable, with a special meal! 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

 

11/04/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: the dessert concluding this lovely meal experience, was around the fig, and beyond perfection. Th best part was probably the reduction of fig leaf, which I have had several times before, but this one was absolutely exquisite.   We enjoyed this with Chateau Castigno Blanc 2019, a Saint Chinian Blanc blending Roussanne and Grenache Blanc which marries power, gentleness and savors magically. This wine is not here yet, but I sure look forward to the next shipment in the spring.
 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

 

11/04/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: a selection of the most exceptional wines of the tour during this dinner, so of course Gil Morrot’s Divem 2021, a rare wine, only available on allocations, and for which Contrast Wines is the sole U.S. Importer.
 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

 

11/01/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: the chef discusses with us the second “mise en bouche” at the Michelin star restaurant of our small village hotel lost in the wilderness at the confines of the Saint Chinian and Minervois appellations.

The two small preparations will benefit from a Renard Blanc 2022, the flagship white from Domaine Ravanès, a legendary white dancing on the palate on a Grenache Gris tempo with Petit Manseng arrangements. A wine that swings delightedly on savors of mirabelle, and is readily available in NC, a Contrast Wines exclusive.
 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

 

10/31/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: Being the grand style operation that it is, our Village-Hotel has a Michelin Star Restaurant, and this was there. We toast with Loic and lise who joined us for this as well, and with one of the very best whites in Contrast Wines Portfolio: Mas Foulaquier Chouette Blanche 2020. A slow deluge of savors competing for your palate’s attention, with a tender bitterness and elegant savors of golden biscotti on a scuppernong overtone. A Total delight, available right now here.  
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

 

10/31/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: the visit at Chateau Castigno was supposed to end with a picnic in the vineyard. That’s right, the place is a high style one. But the weather is uncontrollable, and it was raining that day, so instead we picnicked in the chai, still grand style. 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

 

10/31/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: Chateau Castigno’s chai is beautiful architectural piece of art. Seen from the sky it has the shape of a bottle, and the “siding,” is all made in cork tiles. We are here on the balcony off the tasting room, overlooking part of the vineyard. 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

 

10/31/2024

Guess what we will celebrate, on Nov 14, that’s in roughly two weeks? That’s right, and we will start this Pre-Thanksgiving Splendid Wine Dinner with a splendid Grand Cru Champagne. We could do no less given the magnitude of our upcoming relief.  5 fantastic dishes designed by Chef Jason Lawless for the wines I have selected, thinking they would enchant and sing on your holiday table. $95 plus gratuity and taxes, this is a gift to we the people!  Full menu, wine notes and reservation:  http://contrasttours.com/dinners/

10/29/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: one rare photo of the whole crew in front of the old vintages cellar in Chateau Castigno’s chai. 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

 

10/29/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: as I have said before, we are in a Village which would be Barbie’s village had she been a wine maker. Because this is a wine maker’s village. Chateau Castigno put this village on a map with some crucial developments. We are here in the winery, a state of the art one, and even the “concrete eggs” are reflecting the color theme commonly found in the village. 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

10/29/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: our stunning village hotel has three restaurants, and tonight we are experiencing the Thai one, a curiosity in this rather out of main drags location. It so happens that Occitanie whites seem to have been made to accompany Thai cuisine perfectly.

And tonight we are enjoying Loic and Lise who joined us for dinner. Loic is my dear friend who lives nearby and was crucial in helping me develop this wonderful tour. 
http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

10/28/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: The Mas de Cynanque is a short drive through a beautiful flat full of vines in an otherwise rocky environment, which makes for qualitative soils. We pass the Carignan plot that produces the delicious Carissimo, and a little bit further down we arrive to this property, one of the very very best in the Saint Chinian appellation.  There we will learn why Syrah plots often have red leaves in the fall after the harvest at some but not all of their top of row vine. We will also be told hot to recognize a Carignan, a Grenache, end so forth.

http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

10/28/2024

September/October 2024 Occitanie Wine Tour: lovely lunch at Mas de Cynanque,
Starting with a glass of Meandres 2017, a beautiful white blending Grenache blanc, Grenache Gris, Albariño, and Petit Manseng, for a unique taste surfing on rare alcool savors. only 4 cases left!

http://contrasttours.com/tours/oc0924/

BRITTANY:

Let’s end the day and this Brittany short scouting on a beautiful sunset over the golf of Morbihan.  Now on to Occitanie.

Read more about the September 2025 Brittany tour and the other 2025 Wine Tours:

http://contrasttours.com/tours

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Durham, NC
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Contrast Tours takes full charge of your travel. We meticulously plan every detail so that your travel time is maximized for enjoyment and exhilaration. Our tours are unique and take you in style and comfort, to places for which we have secured a privileged welcome and reception. Our tours are all inclusive, and are protected with travel insurance. You can count on the perfect experience.