Winekeller

06/11/2024

We often get asked about one day itineraries for a wine tour in wine regions close to a major city - a good example is Frankfurt in Germany from where it is very popular to spend a day discovering the Rheingau wine region - famous for being the birthplace of German Riesling and the home of some of the world's finest wines.
Visit the Rheingau and spend time at 2 top VDP wineries, including Weingut Robert Weil and Weingut Künstler, visit the famous Kloster Eberbach for lunch and enjoy dinner at a top restaurant! See our suggested one day itinerary discovering the Rheingau here: https://www.winekeller.com/blog/rheingau-icons-day-tour

Weingut Robert Weil Weingut Künstler

03/11/2024

We enjoyed this beautiful French wine yesterday with friends and some fabulous roast lamb! We brought it back from Vacqueyras in the Southern Rhône a couple of years ago and it reminded us of what a beautiful wine region the Rhône Valley is and what amazing wines!

01/11/2024

Happy Friday!
One of life's pleasures has to be enjoying a wonderful, traditional Italian dish, with an Italian wine that is paired to perfection!
Kenny Dunn, Founder of 'Eating Europe' has kindly written an excellent article for us with some fabulous Italian wine and food pairing recommendations! 🍷🍕
Check it out here - https://www.winekeller.com/blog/pairing-italian-wine-and-food
Eating Europe Food Tours

17/10/2024

Domäne Wachau in Austria's Wachau Valley is one of Austria's top wine estates and one of the world's top wine cooperatives - and - each summer it hosts the Wachau Music and Wine Festival. Not only is the atmosphere and location great, in the middle of the Wachau vineyards at the famous Domäne Wachau Kellerschlössel, it provides a unique opportunity to taste the wines from many of the Wachau's top wineries! Oh and Domäne Wachau also happens to be listed at no. 14 in the list of the 'World's Top Vineyards 2023' to visit!
Read about our experience at this wonderful festival and we'll keep you posted about a tour again next June!
https://www.winekeller.com/blog/domane-wachau-music-wine-festival
Domäne Wachau

13/10/2024

Great Friday evening presenting a journey through German wine regions and wines to .bercher

11/10/2024

We are often asked for one day wine tour itineraries when people are visiting major cities and want to experience a nearby wine region. A good example is Frankfurt in Germany, a popular business city and regional hub - and with the beautiful and historic Rheingau region just an hour's drive away, there's so much you can experience in just one day. Take a look at our one day Rheingau tour itinerary suggestion which features visits to 2 iconic Rheingau wineries, lunch in a famous historic and cultural site and dinner at a top restaurant. With a little help building your perfect itinerary you can enjoy an amazing experience in just one day in Europe's top wine regions!
See our itinerary here: https://www.winekeller.com/blog/rheingau-icons-day-tour
Robert Weil Weingut Künstler

09/10/2024

That’s about right!! 👍

What is the next winery you want to visit? 🍷

04/10/2024

This Summer we spent time in western France and got to try the popular, local aperitif, 'Pineau des Charentes'. Served chilled as an aperitif, or sometimes as a dessert wine, Pineau is a fortified wine (typical alcohol content is about 18-22%), which is made by adding Cognanc eau-de-vie to grape juice and leaving to mature.
It's made in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, in the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime in south western France.
Getting to discover something new is one of the many joys of travelling - this drink isn't known too much outside of where it's produced, but we can highly recommend!

02/10/2024

Delighted to recommend a stay at 'Clos des Jacobins' just outside iconic Saint Émilion in France's Bordeaux wine region. Not only do you get to stay in a historic Bordeaux residence in the middle of prestigious Grand Cru Classé classified vineyards, the guest rooms are modern and luxurious, it's incredibly peaceful, breakfast is excellent and you can also enjoy a wine tasting and vineyard tour! Clos des Jacobins and its guest rooms are part of the Magali & Thibaut Decoster family group of properties. The group comprises 3 other Saint-Émilion châteaux, including Grand Cru classified Château de Candale, which also boasts a fabulous restaurant.
Clos du Jacobin provided a wonderful base for visiting Saint Émilion and whilst we were there we also enjoyed a great tour and tasting at Château de Candale. Visiting Saint Émilion was a joy and the châteaux, wine tours and accommodation offered by the Magali & Thibaut Decoster group added to this! A great example of wine tourism in one of the world's top wine tourism destinations....
Magali et Thibaut Decoster - Vignobles & art de vivre - Saint Émilion

30/09/2024

Margaux on the left bank of the Bordeaux wine region, in Médoc, produces a different style of red wine to its neighbours - St Julien, St Estephe and Pauillac - its wines are smoother and softer, with a greater proportion of Merlot grapes. On our recent visit to Bordeaux, we had the chance to taste a perfect example of Margaux at the beautiful Château Kirwan - which produces 2 superb wines, the first wine 'Château Kirwan Grand Cru Classé - a classified Bordeaux 3rd growth wine, along with second label - ‘Charmes de Kirwan’. Both were stunning wines and we also enjoyed a fabulous tour of the winery and cellars. This is a family-owned château still, with a fascinating history spanning 2 centuries and it stands in a beautiful setting with stunning gardens. Another top Bordeaux Château and stunning Margaux wines - really worth visiting especially as it's also a recipient of a 'Best of wine Tourism' award by Great Wine Capitals 👏
Château Kirwan - Grand Cru Classé 1855 Great Wine Capitals Global Network

27/09/2024

Today is UN World Tourism Day 2024 - a global celebration aimed at starting conversations around the significance and impact of tourism. This year the conference and event will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia - one of the world's oldest winemaking countries, known for its distinctive 'qvevri' winemaking where wine is made in huge clay pots buried underground. Today it is also becoming the centre for 'natural winemaking' - a growing trend around the world. With flights opening up, beautiful country to explore and such a winemaking heritage, Georgia features high on the list of top wine destinations to visit! A superb choice for the location of this year's World Tourism Day!

25/09/2024

Continuing our journey along France's famous 'Route des Châteaux' wine route and staying in Paulliac, the largest wine town in the Médoc region and home to some of the top and most well-known Bordeaux wines - Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Latour - you would naturally expect historic vineyards, beautiful châteaux and impressive wineries around every bend - and you wouldn't be disappointed! We took time out to visit the impressive Château Lynch-Bages - a 5th growth estate, producing top-class wines - and we were blown away by the scale of the operation, featuring a huge, new, modern winery and cellars sitting right in the centre of the small village of Bages, also owned by the estate, the history and the wines! This is impressive, on all fronts! Lynch-Bages

23/09/2024

One of the world's most famous 'wine routes' starts just north of the city of Bordeaux in France, taking you along the 'Route des Châteaux' and some of the world's most famous and prestigious Bordeaux wine estates. Château Pichon Baron in Pauillac, in the heart of the Médoc' region is a superb example of one of the incredible wine estates you can visit on this most famous wine route. A historic vineyard, a Pauillac second Cru Classé estate and a majestic, beautiful 19th century château - we can highly recommend visiting for a tour and tasting!
Château Pichon Baron

20/09/2024

Today we celebrate 'International Grenache Day!! One of the world's most planted grape varieties and widely grown in southern France, Spain (where it is known as Garnacha), the United States and Australia. It's a late-ripening grape and requires lots of sun and warmth to ripen fully. Grenache wines are typically fruity, powerful wines, with some herbal, spicy notes and fruity - raspberry and black cherry characters - the tannins are good, not too heavy and it's a great food wine. There is a Grenache blanc, but the red variety is the more popular.
We've loved tasting incredible examples of Grenache wines for example in France's Southern Rhône region (Gigondas, Vacqueras, Châteauneuf-du-Pape), but also in Priorat in Spain, where the wines are incredibly concentrated, with its special soils and old vines. Try a Grenache wine today - you won't be disappointed and let it evoke memories of hot, long, sunny days!

19/09/2024

Good luck to all those wineries who are harvesting right now 🤞 2024 hasn't been the easiest of years for many in Europe - especially in northern and central Europe - with too much rain and cooler temperatures - see how these grapes in Bordeaux are suffering with mildew with rain and not enough sun and wind to ripen and dry the grapes...Despite possible interventions and skills of the winemaker, Nature is always in charge, but that is one of the special things about wine - every year brings something different...

19/09/2024

Excited to see which wineries make the top 50 for 2024! World's Best Vineyards - taking place at the wonderful Nyetimber Wines Nov 4th 👏🍾🥂

11/09/2024

Great tasting at Domaine Cady in the Anjou region of the Loire Valley - not only great wines but superb accommodation, including a cottage and 3 chambre d'hôte rooms at Clos du Moulin de Sainte Catherine in beautiful Rochefort-sur-Loire.
We enjoyed tasting 3 excellent Chenin Blanc dry whites, the sparkling Brut Crémant de Loire, 2 lovely rosé wines, 2 Cabernet Franc reds and their range of sweet wines, which their region - Coteaux du Layon - is famous for.
Domaine Cady offers a great place to explore this region of the Loire and to sample some of its finest wines - we highly recommend!
Domaine Cady

22/08/2024

Serralunga d'Alba, with its distinctive medieval castle, is in the heart of Italy's Barolo country and offers a great location to explore this beautiful, world-famous wine region. We took the opportunity to visit 2 different wineries - one in the centre of the top Barolo Serralunga vineyards Agricola Boasso franco with great accommodation right next to the winery and so convenient for exploring Serralunga.
Then we spent time Azienda Agricola Rivetto with Enrico Rivetto, learning all about his wines of course, but also his incredible mission to achieve balance with Nature and to create a unique space that he can share with others. Certified biodynamic since 2012, visiting Rivetto is a must if you want to seek out an alternative view of growing vines, making wine and ultimately, our future. Oh and you can also learn all about truffle hunting here, what an experience!
Read about our trip to Serralunga d'Alba here: https://www.winekeller.com/blog/discover-serralunga-dalba-in-italian-barolo