Car Hire in France and the wine tasting regions.

By Peter Thornton

Here is a quick summary of the different French wine regions you can visit with some idea of what you'll be tasting and the airports where you can conveniently pick up a rental car.

Champagne Region

What to taste: bubbly, of course! From the twin champagne-making centres of Reims and Empernay

Which Airport to pick up your Champagne rental car? Paris Charles de Gaulle car hire or Paris Orly Airport car hire.

Alsace Region

What to taste: sweet and scented white wines

Where to get your Alsace car rental? Strasbourg Airport car hire or Mulhouse-Basle car rental both within a reasonable range of this wine region.

Burgundy Region

What to taste: Pinot Noir for the red, Chardonnay for the white and Beaujolais Nouveaux for the fun of it.

Where to get your Burgundy hire car? Lyon Airport car hire (Lyon Satolas - Saint Exupery) is the closest.

Loire Valley

What to taste: great white wine from the Chenin Grape and lusty, fruity reds from the Cabernet Franc.

Where to get your Loire Valley hire car: Tours Airport car hire

Bordeaux

What to taste: a huge region with a great variety of wines with great aging potential -- Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cab Franc and dessert wines from the Sauterne grape.

Where to start your Bordeaux car hire tour: Bodeaux Airport car rental.

Rhone

What to taste: red wine from Syrah and white wines from Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier.

Where to get your Rhone region car hire: Avignon Airport car hire, or Nimes Airport car hire.

Provence

What to taste: historians agree that this is where wine production started. Most of the wine produced here is Rose.

Where to get your Provence Region car hire: Avignon Airport car hire

South-West Region

What to taste: a veritable carnival of wines from a number of different grapes, the likes of which are rarely found elsewhere in the world, let alone France.

Where to get your South-West region car hire: Toulouse Airport car hire

Languedoc-Rousillon region

What to taste: mostly reds but some very interesting whites from the biggest continuous wine growing region in the world.

Where to get your Languedoc-Roussillon car hire: Nimes car hire and Perpignan car hire.

So there is plenty of variety to suit anybody's wine tasting needs. Flying to a particular airport and renting a car once you get there is a great way to explore your taste buds.