With more than 400 wine appellations across France, there's nothing like visiting vineyards to appreciate the French notion of terroir, and the savoir-faire that makes each wine different.
In the Bordeaux region, if you're driving, the Route des Châteaux up the D2 takes you past many famous Médoc chateaux, but organised visits and courses will give you the best experience. Several depart from the Office de Tourisme in Bordeaux, including Bordovino's half-day trips and workshops to the Médoc, Graves or St-Emilion, and the B-Winemaker initiation in the art of blending.
La Winery at Arsac takes a novel approach: blind tastings of six wines reveal your "wine sign" to guide future purchases.
For truly original accommodation, you can sleep inside a concrete wine tank amid the vines near Saint Emilion at the château La Mothe du Barry. And at the Château Haut Garrigue, discover how the new colour of wine is green: this centuries-old wine estate is now a leader in organic wine which, together with its luxury eco-cottages, won it the gold award for sustainable tourism from Best of Wine Tourism 2013.
One of the fascinations of Burgundy is the patchwork of tiny vineyards along the Route Touristique des Grands Crus stretching between Dijon and Beaune through legendary appellations such as Côte de Nuits and Gevrey-Chambertin. In southern Burgundy, Vinestival at Macon on 19-21 April combines a wine fair, competition and vineyard visits.
There's far more to beaujolais wine than beaujolais nouveau. The pride of the region is its 10 beaujolais crus, such as Juliénas, where the Cave des Producteurs co-operative opens its cellars and runs wine tours. All the crus can be tried at the Fête des Crus du Beaujolais in late April in Odenas.
The Rhône valley vineyards stretch from the steeply terraced hillsides just south of Lyon to Provence and the Rhône delta, with no fewer than 13 colour-coded wine routes. The Northern Rhône produces eight great wines such as côte-rôtie and the white condrieu; the southern Rhône boasts the ever-popular côtes du rhône and côtes du rhône villages.
If you're visiting on the first Saturday of September, don't miss the annual Côtes du Rhône Ban des Vendanges in Avignon, for a grand parade of the wine confraternities, with performances and a concert in the evening. And wine tasting, of course. On the third weekend of October (12-13 Oct this year), Chusclan hosts a harvest weekend where the streets are covered in straw and invaded by horses and vintners in historic costume.
Champagne is made in several départements, but particularly in the Marne and Aube; most big-name producers are in Rheims and Epernay. Visits of the cellars, sometimes in spectacular Roman quarries, teach you about champagne-making and the houses' long history of wily marketing.
Part of Taittinger's cellars were a medieval monastery; at Pommery, bubbly is combined with contemporary art; and at Mercier you go round by electric train.
Under the guidance of passionate and fascinating wine makers in the Aube department, you will taste exceptional wines and get to know everything there is to know about champagne. Here the wine growers are proud to pass down their knowledge from generation to generation.
At Epernay, visit the Avenue de Champagne, lined by the fanciful follies built by 19th-century champagne merchants. The OenoPass Champagne gives reduced tariffs for five or 10 sites, including Le Phare de Verzenay wine museum, located in a quirky lighthouse soaring above the vines. One of the best ways to unlock the fizzy mysteries of this ultimate celebratory tipple is to drive along the 400-mile (700km) Champagne Tourist Route.
The Loire valley takes in a huge variety of wines along France's longest, least tamed river, between Sancerre in the east and the Muscadets of the Loire estuary. A great way to tour the region is by bike, along the 500 miles (800km) of signposted "La Loire à Vélo" routes. Discover cellars carved into the tufa beside the river at Vouvray, or combine wine tasting with château visiting: Cheverny's Maison des Vins is by the Château de Cheverny; at Amboise, the Caveau des Vignerons is beneath the royal castle.
Year-round, the four Maisons des Vins in Nantes, Saumur, Angers and Tours give a taste of history as well as of 75 specially selected wines. To the east, the Tour du Pouilly-Fumé has an innovative "sensory route" that includes the "cave of aromas"; the Maison des Sancerre also celebrates the sense of smell with a garden of 800 plants that give off 80 different aromas found in the area's wines.
Annual events include the Vitiloire wine fair at Tours on 25-26 May, and the Vignes, Vins et Randos vineyard walking weekend on 7-8 September. In the old mushroom caves (Les Caves de la Mignonne) of Sancerre, you'll find a superlative wine market for the region on 18-19 May, and wines from all over France at the Foire aux Vins on 24-25 August. On 7-15 September, don't miss the Festivini in Saumur, where 20,000 visitors gather for wine walks, markets and dinners. In neighbouring Anjou, you can enjoy a gastronomic wine appreciation weekend in a beautiful 17th-century manor house on the banks of the Loire, from €144 (£122) per person through Anjou Reservations.
South-west France is home to the historic Pilgrims' Trail to Santiago de Compostela, where travellers and lovers of romanesque architecture will find plenty with which to fortify themselves along the way. The south-west comprises the most extensive range of wines and brandies with some 30 appellations including Cahors, Gaillac, Côtes de Gascogne, Fronton, Madiran, Saint-Mont and Marcillac. Armagnac, in Gascogne, produces the oldest brandy distilled in France.
France's least-known wine region is probably Savoie, where three wine circuits run through dramatic Alpine landscapes. In July, the convivial Balade Gourmande (gourmet tour) rambles through Apremont and Abymes vines, near Chambéry, tasting produce en route.
To find out more about wine visits, visit gotofrancenow.com/wine-tourism
Holiday offer
Taste 25 champagnes starting at breakfast on a fun and informative Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours champagne weekend. Meet the wine makers and sit down to a convivial lunch with them. There is simply no better way to discover the champagne region. From £555pp. Visit winetours.co.uk
