Inside the winery now, moving off the vines and onto the cellar team. Water instead of detergent, the logic behind discarding the first press and anything left overnight, a sabrage knock back from Philippe for being too grubby, and a food fight looming in three days.

A day picking premier cru grapes in Rilly-la-Montagne, working the rows with a crew from all over Europe, and starting to feel like part of the Marc Chauvet family.

Landing in Paris, a solar eclipse watched in a field with new friends, then straight into the vines within 24 hours of touching down. Low trained vines, chalk soil, forty degree afternoons, fast friendships, a tattoo in the works, and a shift into the winery where quality always beats shortcuts.

A last swim cut short by jellyfish stings, a slow final day at Villa 25 before a Tusker beer while waiting on the airport transfer, a rough airport experience, and the final verdict that Vanuatu is beautiful but properly expensive, best done as a half board package next time.

The best day of the trip, a scuba dive with Deep Blue turning up clownfish, eels and barracuda despite a few nerves going in, followed by a waterfront pub crawl from some genuinely awful Australian bubbles at Sunny View to good food and gins at Stone Grill.

An early swim along the reef turns up blue starfish and darting little fish, though the swell has us a bit on edge, then an afternoon beach bar mission that turns into pouring rain and freezing cold rather than the relaxed wine list browse we had planned.

Landing in Vanuatu on a Sunday, which means a sneaky beer run with our taxi driver Sammy before anything else, settling into Villa 25 with the pool right outside, and opening a Saint-Joseph and a twenty seven year old Gigondas we had carried all the way from home.

The big one, fixed ladders up to the Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve, ibex and marmots, a lake too pretty to swim in, and 360 degree views of Mont Blanc before dropping into Chamonix by cable car.

A trip that had nothing to do with wine and everything to do with with wine. The most authentic experiences. Getting outside and walking Mont Blanc what one of the best times I have had. A proper change of pace.

Crossing back into France at Col de Balme with the whole Mont Blanc Massif laid out ahead, glaciers, the Aiguilles and a magical night at a centuries old refuge with a proper wine list.

Choosing the hardest option again, the high route over Fenetre d'Arpette at 2665 metres, waterfalls and a steep rocky scramble near the top, then a lunch of baguette and pickles earned the hard way.

Meant to be the quietest and easiest stage of the whole tour, through postcard Swiss chalet villages and green pastures, before one last climb up to a swim in the lake at Champex.

A walk billed as extreme turned out to be the best kind of hard, straight up to Grand Col Ferret where one step takes you from Italy into Switzerland, then a slide down snowy slopes into the flower filled village of La Fouly.

A steep descent into Courmayeur past a deli that upsold at every turn, then the hardest climb of the trip up to Rifugio Bonatti for the best panoramic view yet and a well earned cold beer at the top.

Leaving France for Italy at the Col de la Seigne, 2516 metres up and worth every step, then sliding down snow on our bums past the Glacier du Miage before a chaotic night sharing a dorm with thirteen trail runners.

Rain, a very protective sheepdog and a snowy crossing of the Col du Bonhomme at 2329 metres, then a chilly welcome at a mountain refuge before a taxi down to Base Camp Lodge in Bourg Saint Maurice.

17km and over 1000m of climbing on the very first day, up past the Glacier de Bionnassay on the tougher Col de Tricot variant, a beer that nearly ended the walk before it began, and a hard lesson in reading the map.

Arriving in Les Houches with Mont Blanc and Aiguille du Midi right outside the window, a shop for spikes and poles in Chamonix, a stern warning from the mountain rescue office, and a first dinner that set the tone for the ten days ahead.

Four days through the Northern and Southern Rhone, steep slopes in Hermitage, family tastings in Crozes-Hermitage and Cornas, then a stone-built evening in Gigondas…