Wine tasting can be a unique, intriguing way to spend a holiday. Whether it’s visiting a family-owned vineyard or tasting exotic varieties in a swank wine bar, you can enjoy the subtle notes of flavor in an exciting new place.
You can discover some of the best wines in the world in the UK, Belgium and France. You can find delicious wines and quaint vineyards in the UK. Or, you can easily make a wine tour and visit all three! Let’s take a closer look at what each destination has to offer the wine connoisseur.
The UK
The UK is a great place to study wine tasting. Here, beginners can take one of the many prestigious entry-level classes at such well-known venues as the Berry Bros and Rudd Wine School, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, and Vinopolis. You can start out here and then move across the Channel to try out your new skills.
You may be tempted to pass over the UK to see the wineries across the Channel, but now you can find no less than 400 commercial vineyards in the UK. Surrey is home to the UK’s biggest vineyard, Denbies Wine Estate, where visitors can help pick the grapes that will go into its signature Greenfields Brut and Surrey Gold tipples. Or, you can head north to Yorkshire’s Ryedale Vineyards, where you can stay at the family-owned Bed and Breakfast while you sample their delicious organic wines.
Belgium
Though perhaps better known for its beer, this tiny country does not disappoint when it comes to wine. The southern part of the country, known as Wallonia, produces fine wines of both red and white. In particular, the climate is better suited to growing German varieties of grapes, which can tolerate the winter cold. You can also find many wineries that specialise in organic wines for the environmentally-conscious connoisseur.
France
France is the place to go if you are looking for wine, Every region has its own signature type of wine that it produces, based on the grapes that grow the best in that region. Many of the wines are produced using traditional methods and are still produced using small-scale operations, thereby carrying on the top quality that French wines are known for. You’ll also get a chance to see how unique each vineyard, variety and region is. And while you’re there, don’t forget to enjoy some haute cuisine to pair with your wine.
See Them All
It’s also possible to visit wineries and vineyards in all three places. With excellent train service between the UK and Paris, including the Eurostar: the fastest train in Europe, you can travel to all three countries and taste the wine for yourself. While you’re traveling around, make sure you take some time to appreciate the culture of the place where you will taste the wine. Oftentimes, wine and other alcoholic beverages feature prominently in social life, so maybe you can check out a wine bar and mingle with the crowd, or take a break from wine and sample the Belgian beer. Whatever you choose to see, tasting wine and other types of alcohol is an excellent excuse to travel.
Nomadic Foodie thanks guest posters such as this one for their support of this blog. This guest post is from Patti Thompson.
{ 1 comment }
The UK would be a good place to study PORT!
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