By Landa Mauriello-Vernon
It’s an oenophile’s dream to taste favorite vintages on their own terroir. As lovers of food and wine ourselves, we’re experienced when it comes to enjoying the world’s best wine regions. It’s a tough job, but we’ll go to great lengths to ensure time well spent for our travelers. From our journeys, here are a few of our favorite wine tours with Virtuoso-preferred partners.
Mendoza, Argentina
Step out of your room and into a vineyard at Casa de Uco, a wine resort in the Uco Valley. In the foothills of the Andes, under a brilliant blue sky, you can taste wines in their natural habitat and learn how much difference even subtle changes in the landscape make to grapes growing within a few hundred yards of each other. Make your own blend at The Vines Resort & Spa, where you can also ride with the Gauchos. There’s plenty of great steaks and fresh produce to pair with your Malbec.
Marlborough, New Zealand
Abercrombie & Kent’s Wine in the Wilderness private tour whisks you away to a remote beach in Abel Tasman National Park. A hike in between a gourmet lunch and a dinner loaded with seafood and local wine helps you burn off the calories while taking in some majestic scenery. Visit a handful wineries outside Picton on ShoreTrips’ 6-hour Marlborough Wine Country Immersion tour. After lunch at one of the world’s southernmost wineries, you’ll stop off at a boutique chocolate shop. It makes for a perfect day trip or shore excursion.
Napa & Sonoma, California
With accommodations at Meadowood Resort and Vineyard and Farmhouse Inn over the course of five days, American Excursionist’s Napa & Sonoma for Connoisseurs leaves no leaf unturned as you get tasting tips from a master sommelier and spend a morning among the vines. At meal times, savor the fruit of those vines at Michelin-starred restaurants as they complement farm-to-table delights. Wine is tops on the list of activities, but cheese and seafood are wonderful in supporting roles.
France
Bordeaux. Burgundy. Champagne. Côtes du Rhone. France has more than its share of excellent wine regions. Chocolatine’s Tour de France of Wine features vintages from six of those regions at a tasting just footsteps from the Louvre in Paris. In 2 hours, your sommelier will teach you everything from how to read a label to which grapes grow in which regions and why they thrive there. Even if it all goes in one ear and out the other, at the very least you’ll get to taste some extraordinary wines.
Cape Winelands, South Africa
An hour outside Cape Town lie some absolutely gorgeous landscapes that producing world-class wines. The 26-room Mont Rochelle hotel and vineyard offers A Romance Getaway in the Cape Winelands that includes a picnic lunch with a tasting of three varietals. To help you relax even further, there’s also a couples’ hammam session featuring Cape Malay spices and essential oils. Combine the three-night stay with a honeymoon safari or just a break from the city during a Cape Town trip.