Six sessions a year, and not a session more! It’s because they’re so few and far between that the tastings led by Jean-Pierre Rudelle are so popular, even among the region’s winemakers.

Jean-Pierre is the gold standard when it comes to dégustations, a walking encyclopaedia on wine, equally knowledgeable about technique as he is about history or biology. In fact, it’s this multi-disciplinary approach that has helped make Jean-Pierre’s courses so successful. His other tour de force is, of course, his ability to popularise wine without over-simplifying it, making ampelography (the science of grape varieties) or phenolic maturity accessible to one and all. For the tastings, the lessons about the different techniques — visual, olfactory and gustatory — centre mainly on cross-tastings between young and old wines. "I give the keys to my clients so they can back up why they like or don’t like a particular wine." Jean-Pierre may be contacted via the website for his cellar, Le Comptoir des Crus.

Tips nearby: 

Le Clos des Lys: Situated in Perpignan, this restaurant occupies a typically Mediterranean mansion, serving cuisine from the south of France, with meats grilled over a wood fire and dishes cooked à la plancha, together with homemade desserts that can be chosen at will. Only high-quality local products are used, with preference given to the shortest possible supply chain. The chef, Franck Séguret, is a toque blanche from Roussillon.

Château Nadal Hainaut: In Le Soler, 10 km east of Perpignan, the gîte — which has a four épis rating from Gîtes de France — is housed in a beautiful building in the heart of the vineyard. There are five comfortable double rooms and two suites on the ground floor. The amenities are very good: a large living room, dining room, terrace, equipped kitchen, Jacuzzi, exercise bike and basket service for breakfast.