It’s time to try something different and create a brand new travel bucket list with beautiful wine destinations.
Wines are distinct and are best experienced in their own home where water, weather and soil retain original flavours and taste.
Wine tourism is a wonderful way of experiencing age-old cultures. Adding to the experience is the fact that various musicians and artists come to vineyard festivals to perform and set a lovely atmosphere for the night. So pack your bags and get ready for new experiences.
Languedoc-Rousillon, France
For music-loving wine fans, the best ticket of the year is Jazz à l’Hospitalet, a yearly celebration put together by noted winemaker Gérard Bertrand. Hosted at Gérard Bertrand’s 38-room Château l’Hospitalet — which is a biodynamically cultivated wine domain — the celebration takes place over five days in late spring.
While this celebratory wine event is a springboard to the region, a major reason to visit the area can be found in the town of Narbonne, which lies inside the Corbières AOC. Narbonne itself is only a 10-minute drive from the Mediterranean Sea — a reason that makes it even more alluring because of the bright Mediterranean environment.
Corbières offers a natural and biodynamic viticulture. The vineyards here mainly produce red AOC wine, characterised with fruity, spicy aromas. The grape varieties cultivated are Carignan, Syrah and black Grenache.
Here is a rich landscape of awesome countryside, a sea of vineyards, a background of rolling hills, where pinewood and garrigues dominate. While sampling wine or trekking or enjoying festivities do visit the citadels, the massif of the Hautes Corbières, the valley of the Torgan, or walk along the Canal du Midi.
Cape Winelands, South Africa
With non-stop flights presently available from most metropolitan cities to Cape Town, it’s easy to get to South Africa’s Cape Winelands, the home of the country’s most recognised wineries. The drive from Cape Town to wine country requires only 45 minutes, and the drive is both scenic and attractive as you go through the towns of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, and Paarl (each situated in the core of the district).
This region is a paradise for wine lovers who wish to explore this great wine growing region that boasts 45 producer cellars, 457 private wine cellars, 5 wine regions and 22 wine routes.
There are guided tours and tastings at vineyards which range from boutique wineries to sprawling estates.
The best way, of course, is to wither cycle between vineyards or take the Wine Tram from Franschhoek, with a hop on and off at various wine estates as and when you please. Visitors can sample wine and food pairing at picturesque food outlets at vineyards and tasting of the classic Pinotage, South Africa’s smoky, red wine, as well as the wonderful Chenin Blancs makes this wine region a premier wine destination.
Porto, Portugal
Set to open in mid-2020, the Fladgate Partnership’s World of Wine is a vacationer dream that will offer five wine gallery meetings, nine eateries and bars, a wine school, and different display spaces, all inside Fladgate’s distribution centres in the city of Porto.
The event expects to feature Portugal‘s reputation as a noted winemaking country, which is already known as a global forerunner in ‘wine stopper’ creation.
The charming city of Porto offers visitors a great history, local and sophisticated shopping areas, and welcomes you to its waterside promenades and cafes. Porto, with its noted historical centre, is recognised as a UNESCO world cultural heritage site and marks the gateway to your Portuguese wine travel. here is a landscape to inspire you with its famous wine regions; Douro (the birthplace of Port wine) and the unmatchable Vinho Verde.
Porto’s vicinity to the Douro Valley, which can be reached by boat, train, or car, makes visiting real grape plantations a reality while remaining in the city. Yet, with a flourishing eating scene and neighbourhood aperitifs to boot, you can be pardoned for saving that outing for another time.
Tenerife, Spain
Spain is right now going through a thrilling winemaking renaissance, and it’s on the island domain of Tenerife that considerable interest is seen among travellers. Tenerife has five wine regions: Valle de la Orotava, Ycoden-Daute-Isora, Abona, Tacoronte-Acentejo and Valle de Güímar.
This small area covers an area of 8, 000 hectares in Tenerife. Wine production in Tenerife began in the 15th century and in the 16th century, its wines became a byword for excellence among leading figures, and monarchs in Europe.
Tenerife’s grounded wine course and most of its bodegas (wineries) are situated in the upper east of the island, near the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna. Guests can partake in a variety of wines made utilizing native assortments, including the sensitive Listán Blanco and Listán Negro and Baboso Negro, which is vinified into incredible, hard reds. A special mention goes to the Malvasía wines. If white wine is a favourite, then you are in the right place as 80% of the Valle de Güímar wines are white.
There are a hundred wineries on the island where visitors can discover the flavours and nuances of Tenerife wines. Enjoy guided tours, or go biking to explore the wonderful vineyards and take in the tastings and food and wine pairing.
Campania, Italy
Italy is the fifth-most visited country on earth, getting more than 60 million vacationers yearly. While this tells you there is hardly any region ‘unexplored” places, a fresh and beautiful locale is Campania. Here is a little known gem that is an iconic wine destination.
Situated on the “shin” of Italy‘s boot, Campania is home to Naples (and its reality popular pizza), Mount Vesuvius, the Amalfi Coast, and the Pompeii ruins. The district represents considerable authority in wines especially red grape Aglianico, and white grapes Greco, Fiano, and Falanghina.
The Amalfi Coast is also a highlight with dreamy coastal destinations, like the seaside resort of Sorrento and the beautiful islands of Capri and Ischia in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
You will see small picture-perfect villages like Positano and Ravello which are built along the cliff line and offer stunning views of the coast and the sea. No wonder this stretch of coastline is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Vienna, Austria
Austria‘s capital, Vienna is a centre of music, workmanship, and espresso culture. A lesser-known yet similarly attractive reason to visit is that Vienna is the world capital producing huge amounts of wine and well-developed viticulture and wine-related culture in the city. By huge, we’re talking about 630 producers of wine, from urban vineyards or more than 700 hectares of vineyards — 85% of which are committed to white wines like Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Grüner Veltliner.
The best season to experience Vienna’s vineyards is during fall, when the city has its yearly Wine Hiking Day. With three courses traversing a sum of 15 miles, guests can stroll the city’s grape plantations while sampling tasty food and wine pairings. There are castles spotted along the course, as well, and provide a broad perspective of the city as a pleasant background.
A detour to a must-visit wine tourism destination is the small Wachau valley in Lower Austria. You must sample wines grown here, which is the best of Austrian wines – Riesling. Wachau is a picturesque UNESCO World Heritage Site with vineyards, ancient monasteries and castles. Don’t miss the stunning baroque Melk Abbey and the Göttweig Abbey near Krems.
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