The Loire Valley is famous for its magnificent châteaux and historic wineries, and this tour from Chinon combines both into an unforgettable lunch date. Enjoy a tour and wine tasting at the Château du Petit Thouars, then select your favorite wine to accompany your romantic picnic lunch, overlooking the idyllic Loire Valley vineyards.

Learn the secrets of Loire Valley wine during a guided winery tour and wine tasting
Enjoy a romantic picnic lunch overlooking the vineyards (vegetarian options included)
Select a bottle of your favorite wine to accompany your lunch
Choice of departure times throughout the day

What's Included

All taxes, fees and handling charges
Wine tasting
Bottled water
Lunch
Alcoholic Beverages

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

108 Château du Petit Thouars
108 Château du Petit Thouars, 37500 Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne, France

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Make your own way to Château du Petit Thouars, a short drive from Chinon, where you’ll be greeted by your hosts and whisked on a guided tour of the family-run château.

Learn the secrets of winemaking in the Loire Valley and the importance of ‘terroir’ as you stroll through the château vineyards and peek behind-the-scenes of the historic winery, which has been owned by the du Petit Thouars family since 1634. After seeing the aging cellars where the wines are aged in French oak casks, head to the tasting room to sample the winery’s fine Cabernet Franc and Chenin blanc wines.

After sampling the wines, you’ll have a chance to select a bottle of your favorite to accompany your lunch. You’ll then be left to enjoy your romantic picnic lunch, looking out over the château, the ancient dovecote, and the rolling vineyards.

Chateau du Petit Thouars

3 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Children must be accompanied by an adult
Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking

Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Micheal_B

This was an excellent tour! Sebastian is very knowledgeable and shares his enthusiasm throughout the day. The house is stunning and the wines are delicious. Would highly recommend this as an activity. Food / picnic was also amazing!

Reviews

5.0

123 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

Showing 1-10 of 123 reviews

Lovely introduction to the Loire Valley!!

SARA_H, Sep 2023

Sebastian was a wonderful informative host. We toured the vineyard and tasted a variety of wines from his small family vineyard, they were very good! Our lunch was plentiful and delicious. I would highly recommend this experience!

A wonderful experience!

Angela_T, Jul 2023

We had a wonderful time touring the vineyard and learning more about the wine making process at this charming chateau. After having the chance to taste several different wines, we ended our time with a lovely, private picnic at a table nestled in the trees surrounding the vineyard. Simply delightful.

Highlight of the...

George_A, Jun 2023

Highlight of the excursion was enjoying the delicious terrine, tomatoes, bread and wine in a secluded picnic area. Sebastian George was a wonderful host.

Great afternoon

Roger_W, Jun 2023

Excellent tour and great picnic. Owners were very friendly anf knowledgeable. We had a really good time.

Intimate tour and tasting experience!

Zackary_M, May 2023

Amazing experience! The couple that owns this chateau are lovely people and very welcoming. The wine was delicious, and the food was fantastic. I’ve been on several tours of vineyards in Italy and France and this was my favorite by far. Also their cat Biscuit was so sweet. Extremely informative, thorough and beautiful property.

Highly recommended

Kate_G, Oct 2022

Beautiful location, it was great to meet the proprietor and hear about her story. Very personal experience.

Lovely Day

Robin_M, Oct 2022

This was a lovely excursion. We biked from Chinon, pushed our bikes up the final hill, had a tour of the vines and caves, had a tasting, then a great picnic lunch. Highly recommended!

Perfect Wine Picnic day

Addison_F, Oct 2022

Amazing experience. Exactly what we were looking for with the wine tasting and picnic lunch at a family owned castle.

Perfect day in a French winery!

Jill_L, Sep 2022

This was the best experience of our trip! The host couple is so accommodating and share so much great information on the tour! The lunch is especially wonderful and the setting is gorgeous. Worth every penny!

Excellent experience !

Amy_S, Sep 2022

Everything was wonderful! I learned so much and the wine was great! Lunch was great too! The scenery was beautiful!

Amazing day and food!

Micheal_B, Jul 2022

Wonderful people. Wonderful picnic. Wonderful wine.

George_D, Jun 2022

The couple who own the chateau are wonderful and very warm and accommodating. One member of our party has mobility issues and they set up our picnic under some trees in their courtyard. Their wine is delicious and it was a great break from what can be a rush, rush, rush vacation. You will not be disappointed. Highly recommend.

Would recommend highly

Harriet_S, Jun 2022

Understanding the process of wine making end-to-end was great with Sebastian and his family vinyard. I booked this experience for my partner who is studying to become a sommelier in the UK, and he absolutely loved it. He and Sebastian were having really interesting conversations about the wine making process the entire way around, but Sebastian was still able to clearly explain to me (a total wine novice) about the process in English. The wine tasting was great 5 bottles we tried and then enjoyed one with lunch. The only thing that disappointed me slightly is that I thought the advert said we could choose which wine we would like to have with our picnic, but Sebastian chose for us. I wasn’t keen on the wine he chose (only because I prefer white wine) but never the less my boyfriend enjoyed the Les George red wine with his picnic. It was a shame about the weather as I was very much looking forward to a romantic French picnic in the vines but Sebastian kindly popped us in one of the out houses to keep dry! It was still very delicious French food and plenty of it! Fantastic experience.

Loved our winery picnic and tasting!!!!

Julie_W, Jun 2022

We absolutely loved our winery tour and the tasting followed by the most delicious lunch. We never imagined it would be such a delicious lunch. Impeccable and made with the highest standards!!

A wonderful tour and incredible lunch!

Emily_P, Jun 2022

A phenomenal tour given by the owner of the chateau and vineyard, Sebastien, whose family has owned the property and winery for hundreds of years! Sebastien taught us all about the wine making process, gave us a tour of the vines, and talked us through a tasting of several vintages. We were also joined on our tour by Biscuit, the vineyard cat who made sure we were having a great time throughout. After the tour, we had what can only be described as the best lunch of our time in France, a beautiful picnic with so many delicious fresh local things to sample, as well as a bottle of wine from the chateau. They were even able to accommodate a gluten-free dietary request which made the experience that much better!! Thank you Sebastien, D'Arcy, and Biscuit for an amazing experience!!

All around bewilderment

Jennie_M, Nov 2021

Amazing castle grounds, vinyard, wine, and picnic! All was stunning and our hosts were very knowledgable and kind. The picnic was absolutely delicious and romantic, perfect place for a proposal 🥰 I did not include many pictures as so not spoil any of the adventure.

Don't miss this!

WandaS_M, Nov 2021

Talking with Sebastain who owns the Chateau and vineyard was a special experience. It's a beautiful place with wonderful wine.

Great Experience

Lizzie_S, Sep 2020

Great experience. Very interesting hearing all about how the wine is produced and seeing the wonderful vineyard. The wine tasted fantastic. The host spoke English very well. Thank you.

Winetasting with a Duke.

Thomas, Sep 2020

A really á l'aise tour of the wine estate given by The Duke of Petit Thouars. The estate swims in history, of wich the Duke is a part. We got a private Tour of the estate, wich was very pleasant. Whilst doing the tour he is also still managing his business, wich was pretty interesting to see. It gave us a more traditional feeling than they tours given by bigger wine estates. The Pique - nique was filled with fresh paté's/charcuterie/cheese from the neighbourhood, alsof homemade potatosalad (mmhh) and carrotsalad, accompanied by a bottle of his own red wine ofcourse.

Beautiful day in the vineyard

Robert_C, Aug 2019

One of the nicest parts of our trip to France. Sebastian and Maryella made us feel at home wandering around the beautiful fields. Loved the explanation of the winemaking process and the wine tasting was great .The picnic with fresh bread , cheeses and pate finished with a winemakers tart and accompanied by a lovely rose was the one memory of our week to France that we still talk about. We would do this again in a heartbeat. Five stars and not to be missed!!!