Lyon and its wine regions, explained
Historical wine tours of Beaujolais and Lyon, led by a British historian
The Banished Grape offers two guided tours built around the same idea: that the wine regions surrounding Lyon have histories worth knowing, and that understanding those histories changes what you taste. One tour takes a full day to explore Beaujolais by vehicle. The other spends an evening walking through Lyon itself, tracing the city's relationship with the vineyards that have supplied it for two thousand years. Both are led in English, for small groups, by a British historian based in the city.
Why ‘The Banished Grape’?
In 1395 Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, banned Gamay from Burgundy by ducal decree. The grape moved south into Beaujolais, where it became the dominant variety of the region. It is a good illustration of what both tours are about: the wine regions surrounding Lyon were shaped by decisions made by monks, feudal lords, dukes, revolutionaries and railway engineers, most of which had nothing directly to do with wine.
Most tours of the region are organised around appellations and tasting notes. These are organised around history, with the wine at each stop as evidence of what came before. They are led by a historian, in English, for small groups, without assuming any prior knowledge of wine.
Two tours
The Beaujolais Day
A full-day historical tour of the Beaujolais region by chauffeured vehicle. Six stops, two wine tastings at historic estates and a break for lunch. The route runs chronologically from Roman Lyon to the natural wine revival of the 1980s. Departing 9:00 am, returning 5:30 pm. €160 per person, minimum four guests.
The Lyon Evening
A guided evening walk through Vieux Lyon, the Presqu'île and the Croix-Rousse, tracing Lyon's historical relationship with its surrounding wine regions. Three stops at wine bars, one glass included at each, ending with an optional dinner at a bouchon. Departing 5:30 pm, ending 9 pm. €85 per person, minimum two guests.
Your guide
Alex Howells
I'm a British historian and education specialist based in Lyon, often working in Geneva. My background combines historical research, teaching and working with international groups of people across a range of contexts.
I have a long-standing interest in history, landscape and how places come to look the way they do. The wine regions surrounding Lyon are great examples of how political and institutional decisions leave permanent marks on the land.
The Gamay monoculture covering the Beaujolais hillsides is the accidental result of a vine disease that destroyed the entire region in the 1870s and forced replanting under specific economic conditions. The fragmented pattern of small family domaines is the direct consequence of Revolutionary land redistribution after 1789. The named crus on the bottle are the formalised descendants of records kept by Cistercian monks in the 12th and 13th centuries.
Both tours move through that history in order, with wine at each stop as illustration and evidence. They are led in English, for small groups, without assuming any prior knowledge of wine.
I am not a sommelier. I work in partnership with the estates and bars along both routes so that technical wine expertise is on hand at every tasting.
