JUNE 2020
Everyone who knows me, knows I love a good glass of wine, so it is no surprise I love visiting wine regions. Over the past years I have visited several wine regions, of which I loved some more than others, so I decided to dedicate a blogpost to this hobby of mine. All wine regions have their own advantages and disadvantages and in this blogpost I will give you the pros and cons of the different wine regions.
Wachau Valley – Austria
The Wachau Valley is my unexpected number one of this list, I had just learned that this region existed before we visited and I was surprised I liked it this much. The Wachau Valley is located near Vienna and makes for the perfect day trip, but it is definitely worth an overnight. It is the home to one of my favorite wines: the Gruner Veltliner, so I am a little biased when it comes to this region. Hielke and I visited the Wachau Valley in 2019 and visited the region by bike, which was ideal. The Danube flows right through the Wachau Valley and at the base of the river you will find bicycle lanes, which will take you through all the cute villages along the way, such as Durnstein and Weissenkirchen. To do a tasting you do not have to make any reservations, which makes tastings very accessible. The Wachau Valley is relatively undiscovered, which makes absolutely no sense. The rest of this list is in a random order, but the Wachau Valley was my absolute number one.
Mendoza – Argentina
Mendoza had been on my bucket list for a very long time, so I was super happy I got to finally visit it in 2019 during our three month travels. We stayed in Mendoza for four nights, so we could fully experience the region. Having recently visited Stellenbosch, I was a bit surprised that Mendoza was less fancy. Mendoza is a super low key location offering delicious Malbec wines. We explored the nearby wineries by bike and also had a wine picknick and a multi-course-lunch including wines. As Argentina is experiencing economic problems, it is actually very cheap to enjoy the gastronomy of Mendoza, which I would definitely recommend!
Stellenbosch – South Africa
Hielke and I did a trip with my family to South Africa in 2018 and one of the highlights was our visit to Stellenbosch and nearby Franschoek. Of all the wine regions we ever visited, Stellenbosch is definitely the prettiest. The nature in this region is very beautiful, but the wineries are on another level. The wineries are all built in the clean Cape Dutch style and most of them have very well landscaped gardens as well. Even though the region is incredibly beautiful and it has amazing wines, it is not my favorite. I found that you could still experience segregation in Stellenbosch, which made us a bit uncomfortable at times.
Champagne – France
One of the most famous regions in the world: the Champagne in France. It is located very close to The Netherlands, so I got to visit it twice. I didn’t know I liked champagne, I always prefer prosecco, but I loved learning about the process. The French are very proud on their champagne and there still is some secrecy, which makes your visit all the more fun. The little town Hautvillers has beautiful views over the region as well as a charming old town, I would advise to stay there, as I didn’t love Epernay (even though the balloon ride was super cool). The Champagne has a nice variety of small, family-owned champagne houses as well as big, commercial ones that have English spoken tours. Reservations are necessary for most champagne houses, especially if you want an English tour.
Alsace – France
The Alsace is mainly famous for its Riesling. Colmar is the perfect hub to explore this area, it is a super beautiful town, with little canals and half-wood-timbered colorful houses. Nearby you will find many small towns, that are worth exploring and where you can do wine tastings. I visited the Alsace with my mother and sister and we were equally impressed by the natural beauty of the Alsace. The downside to this region is that it is very popular, for good restaurants you definitely need reservations and that it is extremely hilly. We rented electric bikes, but still had difficulty cycling around. Also, the towns are not indicated very well and you often have to cross busy roads with your bicycle.
Ronda – Spain
Spain also has its fair share of wine regions with delicious wine. I visited Ronda with Hielke and my mother in 2018 and we were excited to visit some wineries. However, in Ronda it is more difficult to arrange a tasting, the wineries often did not reply to my emails or had difficult opening times. In the end we mainly tasted the wines in restaurants, which was a waste as the region is incredibly beautiful. Pros ares that Ronda has some interesting sights as well, usually has very good weather and is not very popular yet (hence the difficulty of arranging a tasting).
Soave – Italy
The Soave region was also a nice surprise for me. Hielke and I visited Soave as part of our Italy trip in 2016. We didn’t know the Soave wine yet, but were keen to sleep on an “agriturismo”, which is how we discovered the Soave wineries. In Italy it is very easy to sleep on a winery, which is definitely something you should experience if you love wine. Our agriturismo had a wine-fridge, with a good variation in white and red wines, which we loved to taste in the gardens. Besides Soave, the region is also known for its Valpolicella and Ripasso wines, which are some of my favorite red wines. The infrastructure in Soave is not very well developed, you definitely need a car in this region, which is not handy if you want to do wine tastings.
Puglia – Italy
Puglia is an up-and-coming holiday destination in Italy. Hielke and I got to visit it as part of our honeymoon in 2019. One of the wines that comes from Puglia is the red Primitivo wine, another one of my favorite wines (I love Italian wines in general). Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of time, so we didn’t arrange a wine tasting, but we made up for that in the restaurants and cave bars of Ostuni. Puglia is much cheaper than the North of Italy and you can sleep in a traditional trullo, which adds much fun to your holiday. I would love to go back to Puglia, to explore more and do some wine tastings!
