Viking River Cruises new Chateaux, Rivers & Wine itinerary takes culturally curious travelers through the great wine regions of Bordeaux, in comfort.  The eight-day journey sails on Viking longships deep into a part of France that produces more than 700 million bottles of wine each year.  For wine lovers, there are few opportunities to embrace their passion as fully.  Nicely priced, this is a great option for  culturally curious first-time cruise travelers as well.  We visited a sampling of the enchanting places that included tours might visit.

We have been on wine tours before but this one was different in one very important way.  It was in France. Solidly one of the most productive wine regions of the world, Bordeaux is host to more than 8,000 wine-producing Chateaux (country house/castle giving its name to wine made there). In France. There is something wildly captivating about touring places we might have seen on wine lists or stores throughout our lives.  Chateaux Mouton Rothschild comes to mind…and was visited on our tour.

Normally, the included tour on a Viking Chateaux, Rivers & Wine itinerary would have passengers getting off the ship about 2pm, touring Bordeaux and a wine tasting.  Small groups from the ship, gone their separate ways during the day to insure a quality experience, would meet for dinner off-ship at a local eatery before returning to the ship.

We stopped at a number of Chateaux, touring their wine-making facilities with a local Viking guide with us all the way, making sure we were in the right place at the right time to maximize the experience.  No question was left unanswered as inquiring minds were left satisfied, fulfilled and with a new appreciation for what goes into a good glass of wine.

This photo gallery follows the path of our Viking wine tour and brings a good sampling of what passengers might experience.

The 8-day Viking Chateaux, Rivers & Wine itinerary starts at $1859 per person.  Filling up fast, there are still cabins available in 2014.