World’s 6 Best Places Where Every Wine Lover Should Visit
Wouldn’t you just love to travel around the world and spend all the time tasting different sorts of wine? Lucky for you, vacations that consist of wine tasting are certainly becoming a thing today. In the last couple of years, tourism that revolves around wine has been rapidly growing. In many wineries across the globe, you can find offers for vineyard and wine cellar tours, wine-tasting dinners and tasting rooms that give you wonderful scenic views. What is so great about these tours is that, next to tasting impeccable wine sorts, you also make the connection with the region where it comes from, which further expands the magnificence of your experience. So where do you go to get a taste of such tours?
1) Bordeaux, France
You are not a real wine enthusiast if you don’t visit Bordeaux in France. It is the most renowned region in the whole world when it comes to fine wine production. Bordeaux produces all sorts of wines, from the most prestigious and expensive wines out there to some of the more affordable but still extremely delicious ones. What makes Bordeaux stand out next to its wine production are its Gothic buildings and mansions where you can experience wine tasting in a unique setting. Some of these mansions and castles age more than 300 years. When it comes to the best chateaus for wine tasting, there are Graves, St. Emilion and Médoc.
2) Barcelona, Spain
What makes Barcelona’s wine-tasting market unique is that, in comparison to most other wineries around the world that require you to drive at least a few hours away from big cities to find them, the grandeur of the Catalonia wine country is available to you in a quite small region that you can easily travel around. Denominación de Origen, for example, is one of the wineries that is only 20 minutes farther from the city. There are other vineyards as well, some of them being considered the best in the world, and they are all located only about 90 minutes away from Barcelona.
3) Barossa Valley, Australia
You might be surprised to know that Australia has areas that have a great number of wineries. One of them is the amazing Barossa Valley. This is a region visited by people from all over the world and offers various experiences to its visitors. You can pick a wine-tasting room or a full dedicated guide tour. When it comes to the wines that it has to offer, the one that takes the lead is Shiraz, which stands out among all the world’s producers of this wine. Next, to Shiraz, you can get a taste of Mataro, Yalumba, Grenache, Henschke and Rockford. What’s great about Barossa Valley is that its experiences are open to you throughout the year.
4) Dalat, Vietnam
Vietnam is a one-of-a-kind place that offers some wonderful natural beauties, extremely friendly people, and a wine culture that is very rich and developed. Due to a great number of fruits that are locally grown in the area, the market consists of both grape and fruit wines. However, the most popular wine is most certainly the grape wine under the name Vang Dalat, which stands for Dalat red wine. It’s relatively affordable and has an impeccable taste. In order to truly get the best out of the Vietnamese wine culture, you should take up Vietnam wine tours, which have grown to be extremely popular. You will get to visit various old castles in the area, and an island called Phu Quoc, where you can sip some of the best fruit wines they have to offer.
5) Tuscany, Italy
If you are a fan of the famous red wine Chianti, then you have certainly heard of the Tuscany region in Italy. This region has all the necessary properties to make this wine one of a kind. The climate conditions are perfect, the soil is diverse, and the terrain just the kind that it requires. What makes Tuscany’s wine so exquisite is the Sangiovese grape, which is the base for many famous wines next to Chianti – Carmignano, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello di Montalcino. Furthermore, the region is also famous for the Super Tuscan wines.
Tuscany is an area renowned by what some people call the “old world” winemaking culture. This means that the winemakers still make the wine by crushing the grapes with their feet, and then store it into huge vaulted cellars. Some of these cellars are carved into the rock. When you take a trip to Tuscany, you can visit some of the many castles, mansions and vineyards in order to experience their magnificent wine tours.
6) Napa & Sonoma, California
When it comes to the United States, if you want to find an area that is the most popular for growing wine, then you are looking for the Napa Valley. With about 4 million visitors a year, this area has to offer some of the world’s best wines. The staggering number of wineries here is over 450, and all of them offer unique wine tasting tours. Some of the best wines you can taste here are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc.
The Napa Valley also offer a great number of high-quality restaurants, hotels, spans, and various other activities that can make your experience of the area truly unique.
Final words
If you’re looking for some of the best wines in the world, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences, then these are the places that you simply have to visit. Not only will you get the chance to taste exquisite wine, but you will also visit various places that the regions have to offer, and take up activities that are bound to make your trip worth remembering for a long time.
Do share your experiences if you’ve visited any of these places in the comments below? If not, which place would you love to visit?
About the Author
Ian Pearson is a passionate sports fan, nature and photography addict, always trying to keep up to date with tech innovations and development.
OvenStruck
March 25, 2017I’ve been to Sonoma and Napa many times and absolutely love it! What I find super interesting and less unheard of is Vietnam! Who knew? I would love to go there someday.
View Commenttoastycritic
March 25, 2017Those do look like some amazing places to go to for wines. I never thought about Vietnam as a place for them. I did go to this town in China that made an amazing dessert wine but I didn’t know if the community had other wineries in the area. I’ve been to Napa. I did enjoy going to the wineries there. Hopefully I can check out a few more of these places.
View CommentJoy Generoso
March 25, 2017There’s no doubt, these places are great with wines. I’ve never been to 5 on the list above, however I’ve been to other places that produce amazing wines too… like in Rhine Valley, Germany. I love Germany’s Riesling Eiswein – one of my favorites. To add the list Santorini, Greece and Kakheti, Georgia produce good wines also. 🙂
View Comment@eatingtheglobe
March 25, 2017Now you have me curious. I wouldn’t have thought to go to Vietnam for wine .
View Commentspiritedsloth
March 24, 2017I love wine! I’ve done the French, Californian, Italian, and Australian wineries, but I must say I’ve never thought to try Vietnam! New to the bucket list!
View Commentsveeteskapes
March 24, 2017These definitely are some great places to visit for wine lovers, though I did not know Vietnam belonged in that list 🙂
My absolute favorite sure is Tuscany!
xx, Kusum |
View CommentSaidah Washington
March 24, 2017You are speaking my love language. I love going to regional wine tastings when I’m traveling but I definitely need to make some stops when I’m out of the country.
View CommentJeff & Crystal
March 24, 2017Such a great list. We always enjoy our visits to wine regions, and we never thought about Vietnam. It’s going on the list.
View CommentBilyana | OwlOverTheWorld
March 24, 2017This list is made just like for me. I would also include Bulgaria. We have a great choice of amazing wines. 🙂
View CommentSonam
March 24, 2017This si the perfect article for me. Im such a wine lover and have seen only half of these places. Thanks so much for sharing this Xx
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