1 Day in France Wine Country: Looking for steep limestone sport climbing 5.9-5.11+

Seeking advice for a crag and guide for 1 day of climbing in France, going on a 10 day trip with my wife in wine country but I get 1 day for climbing. 

Would love to get on some 5.9-.5.11+ limestone tuffa climbing. 

Here is our general route, we will have a car. Any advice for an area with steep limestone, short approach, beautiful rock and a guide service to give me some belays would be greatly appreciated. My wife doesn't climb so that why I want a guide. 

Thanks in advance! 

Schmitz

Most of France is wine country except for Bretagne, Normandie, Hauts-de-France and a few others, lol. 

Anyway in your case the closest good crag is Gorges du Tarn which is 1h 20min drive from Avignon (destination is Alès). 

Links:

https://climb-europe.com/rockclimbingshop/destination-article-gorge-du-tarn

https://www.thecrag.com/en/climbing/france/gorge-du-tarn

From your map, it looks like you will be in the Burgundy wine country. There are a number of decent ( though not the best, in my opinion) crags right in the wine country around Beaune—Saffres is maybe the best known but there are quite a few others, including Cormot, Fixin, etc.  A bit further away, but still within the region, and even a better and very historic crag, is Saussois—very polished though. All these are steep limestone, but not much tufa climbing—mostly pockets.

Don’t know anything about guides there, but I’m sure there are some located in the region.

Again, if I am reading your map accurately, I think the Tarn is a bit far from your route. Other areas a bit closer include the Ardeche, Seynes (great tufa crag), Russan, Claret. Many fantastic areas in much of the southern half of the country.

Well, when are you going?  If near Avignon, you will be less than 45 minutes from Buoux and Venasque. Buoux will be hotter than hades right now, but is a classic French sport crag (complete with a mural of Francois LeGrande).
Venasque on the other hand, is almost completely north facing. It also has a zero (30 seconds) approach, friendlier bolting than most French crags, and some really nice, fairly steep climbing from 6b to 7c+. It is a small crag, so fine for a day. No tuffas, but fun, steep plates. Just make sure that when you detrain that you don’t end up in the power lines :-)

Thanks for the information, keep it coming, especially if you recommend or have any friends that work at a French Climbing guide, looking online is a bit overwhelming the google result mostly come up with Canyoneering in Verdon or summiting Everest, LOL. 

Verdon Gorge is amazing and it is easy to find guide services for it. The Haute Provence area is really dense in terms of crags, and the time of your trip will be key where you want to climb. Our last trip, three weeks in the early summer, we were a bit chilly at Ceuse, unbearably hot at Buoux, and fine at Venasque (where we bailed to from Buoux due to heat). Before that, the Verdon was perfect in mid September. 

I'll be there 2nd and 3rd of September 

Bickle wrote:

 and a guide service to give me some belays  

Assuming that you're expecting to be leading it might be worth checking how the guiding regulations operate in France with respect to crag climbing - whether single- or multi-pitch. I don't know the answer, but my understanding is that guided clients on mountain routes don't do any leading; they are literally 'led' up the routes. If the same applies to lower-level activities I imagine it would be disappointing. I also don't know whether one has to be a fully-qualified guide to work in a cragging scenario - or whether, for instance, there might be some sort of lesser accompagnateur d'escalade qualification with more relaxed rules. With a bit of luck somebody on here will know for certain how it works.

I didn't mention Verdon because the OP's map is too far from it. Forgot all about Buoux. Very good crag but I reckon is quite washed out now as its not only amongst France's most popular crags but also to all international climbers back in the day. 

There is a VERY good local crag 20 min from St. Remy. Look into a guide there. Almost no information on the internet but it is in the new guidebook for the area. 

Yeah was hoping to do some leading, thanks for the information, I'll take a look. 

The Crag lists the following crags all located at the very bottom of the OP's map:

https://www.thecrag.com/en/climbing/france/provence-cote-dazur/avignon-provence-area/area/2476169328

Mnt File wrote:

You are entirely mistaken about the qualifications and practices for a moniteur/accompagneur, and the way commercial climbing guiding functions in this country. Like it is alarming, these corresponding levels of ignorance and verbiage. Consider deleting this post for its misinformation. 

Well! I can see that I've touched a nerve - for which I apologise - but I think you're being somewhat over-critical. I never mentioned the word moniteur, but simply stated that I didn't know whether or not an accompagnateur qualification existed in this context. Quote: "I also don't know whether one has to be a fully-qualified guide to work in a cragging scenario - or whether, for instance, there might be some sort of lesser accompagnateur d'escalade qualification with more relaxed rules. With a bit of luck somebody on here will know for certain how it works." It's difficult to see how one can be "entirely mistaken" about something by confessing one's ignorance of it and inviting further information! Should I perhaps not have used the term "lesser"? You quite fairly point out that the procedure for becoming a moniteur is long and intense, but then compare it to becoming a "single pitch guide" in other countries. I don't know whether there actually are countries where the holder of a single pitch qualification would be called a "guide" - but that's certainly not the case in the UK and I doubt that it is in the US. When I used the term "guide" in a climbing/mountaineering context I was referring to a member of the IFMGA [FMGA, AMGA, BMG, etc] and - perhaps mistakenly - I assumed that the OP was as well. For those that I know who have held the qualification it took much longer than 16 months to earn it; the BMG website specifies a minimum of three years - and in the Alpine countries, with their much longer history of guiding as a proper profession, I wouldn't expect it to be any less demanding.

Over the years I've numbered one or two guides among my regular climbing partners and have encountered others in the course of work - the latter often in the training or "Aspirant" stage and working in the rope access industry to pay for it. It's from these various encounters that I'd gained the impression - perhaps incorrectly - that when one engages a guide to climb an Alpine route one shouldn't expect to be doing any of the leading. That being so - ie the impression, regardless of whether or not it was correct - my first reaction on seeing this thread was to wonder whether he'd be 'allowed' to lead, so it seemed only reasonable to suggest that he might want to specifically check this. I made it clear that I didn't know how things might work in his situation and welcomed input from anybody better-informed; this, I'm guessing, prompted your post - as a result of which we now all know that the appropriate professional in this context is a moniteur. [As an aside, is accompagneur or accompagnateur the correct form of the alternative? I think I've only ever heard the latter, and searching for "accompagneur de ...." seems to prompt the response "do you mean accompagnateur de ....?"!]

To return to my original impression, perhaps you can clarify it for me. If I happened to be in Chamonix, for instance - intent on climbing the Éperon Walker, perhaps, but lacking a climbing partner - would I be able to hire a guide to accompany me, confident in the knowledge that we would share the leading in the way that we would if I were climbing with a regular partner? I look forward to learning that the answer is "yes".