La Motte wins global award for wine tours

Audrey D’Angelo

South Africa was now “among the most exciting wine countries in the world”, internationally respected wine writer Robert Joseph said at a function last week to honour Franschhoek wine estate La Motte, this year’s winner of the annual Great Wine Capitals of the World wine tourism award.

He told top wine producers that there had been “enormous progress” in wine making and in wine tourism since he first came to South Africa in the late 1980s. He was “dazzled by the complete revolution in wine and wine tourism that has been taking place in this country in the last 25 years”.

Wine tourism, which generates income of more than R5 billion a year and is a major creator of jobs, was identified as important in the government’s New Growth Path policy.

The other Great Wine Capitals of the World, against which the Western Cape competes, include Mainz-Rheinhessen in Germany, Bilbao-Rioja in Spain, Bordeaux in France, Florence in Italy, Mendoza in Argentina, Porto in Portugal, San Francisco and the Napa Valley in the US, and Christchurch in New Zealand.

Joseph said that despite the growth of wine tourism internationally, there was a need to develop the sector more aggressively. “There is a common misperception that wine tourism is only about tasting and buying wine. It is [also] about entertainment and building profitable relationships. Wine tourism needs to attract more visitors, get them to spend money, get them to become regular visitors and encourage them to become ambassadors.”

He said that in an era in which drink-driving legislation was becoming more stringent, more should be done to make designated drivers feel at home on wine estates. Children also needed to be entertained.

Buying wine should also be made simpler and easier for visitors from other countries.

“Instead of shipping from your winery, arrange for distributors in the home countries of your visitors to deliver to them directly.

“This model is being used by some producers in Europe and is working successfully.”

Cape Town Tourism provided a list of 22 wine estates open on Sundays during winter and 71 others, some of which provide accommodation as well as restaurants of varying sizes.

But Jacques Jordaan, the marketing manager of Simonsig Wine Estates, said the sector was growing rapidly with new estates constantly being added. He believed there were already more than 300, many of which had restaurant facilities.

Grapeline© Wine Tours Creates New Management Position, Expanding Paso …

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Grapeline© Wine Tours Creates New Management Position, Expanding Paso Robles Operation

PRWEB.COM Newswire

Paso Robles, California (PRWEB) May 08, 2013

In response to rapidly increasing demand for wine tours in California’s Central Coast, Grapeline Wine Tours recently created a new management position focusing on marketing and public relations. Grapeline selected Roxan Kragten, a seasoned Paso Robles entrepreneur, to fill the key position. According to the company, the new position reaffirms Grapeline Wine Tours’ commitment to maintaining its leadership in wine tourism in the California Central Coast wine regions, and particularly in Paso Robles.

Prior to signing with Grapeline, Mrs. Kragten ran and owned Paso Weddings, a wedding coordination business that worked closely with select Paso Robles wineries. She graduated from Northern Arizona University with a major in Public Relations and a minor in Advertising and Sociology. As a six-year resident of San Luis Obispo County and a former Paso Robles business owner, Mrs. Kragten brings a record of achievement, relevant experience, and important wine country connections to Grapeline Wine Tours, Paso Robles.

Grapeline owner John Kelliher explained, “The decision to create a marketing management position stemmed from a consistent demand increase.” According to the Wine Institute, California wineries are growing in interest with more than 20 million visitors each year. As Jon Fredrikson of Gomberg, Fredrikson Associate states, “The phenomenal growth of the industry in California – America’s wine heartland – has been fueled by steadily-increasing consumer interest and adoption of wine as part of an everyday lifestyle.” The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance reports that Paso Robles has seen a more than five-fold increase from 35 to over 180 bonded wineries in the last decade. These factors have spurred an increase in demand for wine tours in the Paso Robles area.

Grapeline Wine Tours is the top guest-rated wine tour company in Southern and Central California, with over 350 5-star reviews on review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. Founded in Temecula wine country in 2002 by John and Kim Kelliher, Grapeline has grown rapidly and is now the largest wine tour company in the region, offering services in the Temecula, Paso Robles, and Santa Barbara wine countries.

Reservations are available online at http://www.gogrape.com or by calling Grapeline at 1 888 8-WINERY.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/5/prweb10716361.htm

Rockville company says White House party crasher owes money

A Rockville company says alleged White House party crasher, reality star and Virginia gubernatorial candidate Tareq Salahi owes about $34,000 for chauffeur services.

Robert Alexander, president and CEO of Rockville-based RMA Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation, said his company provided chauffeur services for wine tours arranged by an entity called Blue Ridge WineWay throughout Virginia during the last half of 2012, but has not been paid.

The company listed Salahi’s address and phone number as its contact information, Alexander said.

RMA also picked up Salahi from his house several times, on trips arranged through Blue Ridge WineWay, Alexander said. RMA chauffeurs provided eight trips originating from Salahi’s house to locations including airports, hotels, the Newseum, Republican offices in Richmond and a Redskins game on Thanksgiving, Alexander said. RMA also provided 28 trips for wine tours, he said.

Salahi did not reply to requests for comment to The Gazette by press time.

Alexander said his efforts to recover the money owed to him for the chauffeur services have so far been unsuccessful.

“It’s just horrible,” Alexander said. “When they asked us to do business with them, they represented themselves as something like a tourism bureau.”

The request for proposals Alexander received said it was from “Virginia Wine Tourism offices, a non-state agency,” and the email attached to the RFP is signed by Marc Gehring, identified as director of Travel and Tourism Partners, Blue Ridge WineWay Tours, Virginia Wine Tourism Initiative programs.

At the bottom of the email is a logo similar to that used by Virginia’s official tourism website, but modified slightly to read “Virginia is for wine lovers.”

Thinking the RFP was from a tourism bureau affiliated with the commonwealth’s government, Alexander said he did not request the credit card information he usually requires before providing chauffeur services.

“Now [when] I read it, I say, ‘What a bunch of crap!’” Alexander said.

The fax number on the RFP showed up on the website for Salahi’s Oasis Winery, and the phone number shows up on the Facebook page for Salahi’s campaign for governor.

Salahi gained national attention in 2009 when he and his then-wife Michaele apparently attended a White House state dinner uninvited, The Washington Post reported. At the time, the couple was filming the short-lived reality TV series, “The Real Housewives of D.C.”

Earlier in 2009, Salahi organized a polo match in Poolesville, billed as the Land Rover America’s Polo Cup. The event later came under scrutiny over allegations that vendors were not paid and that the charity beneficiary of the annual event failed to register with state regulators for four years, according to a Washington Post report.

In 2012, the Virginia attorney general filed a lawsuit against Salahi and his company, Virginia Wine Tourism Inc., for not delivering wine tours as promised and failing to deliver promised refunds, according to a statement from the attorney general’s office.

The email Alexander received in August 2012 requesting services came from blueridgewineway.com, a website that promotes vineyards in Northern Virginia, including Oasis Winery. The phone number listed on the website is the number for the visitors center in Warrenton, Va. A person who answered the number at the visitors center but declined to give her name said Blue Ridge WineWay was a promotional effort that several wineries put together about 10 years ago, but as far as she knows, it is no longer functioning.

The visitors center allowed Blue Ridge WineWay to provide its phone number on the website and mailed some brochures, she said, but it had nothing to do with booking tours.

In a Washington Post report, Salahi said he is no longer involved in Blue Ridge’s operations.

“I pretty much put that hat up when I started the campaign up,” Salahi told The Washington Post.

Salahi is currently running for governor in Virginia while filming a documentary.

Alexander said the office address he received for Blue Ridge WineWay is also Salahi’s home address.

“That’s where we sent the bills,” Alexander said. “So how can he say he hung up his hat?”

ewaibel@gazette.net

Third Award Win for Appellation Central Wine Tours

Press release from Appellation Central
Wine Tours
14 November
2012

Third
Consecutive Award Win for Appellation Central Wine
Tours

Queenstown’s premier wine tour
company Appellation Central Wine Tours is celebrating an
“outstanding” wine tourism award that aligns its
business with some of the best wine tourism regions in the
world.

For the third consecutive year Appellation
Central has won a New Zealand award for ‘Best of Wine
Tourism Services’.

The annual Best of Wine
Tourism Awards honour outstanding wine tourism businesses
nationally and internationally, and are run by the
prestigious Great Wine Capitals Global Network.

Owner and Manager Wendy Johnston said she was
“extremely proud” of their third New Zealand award,
acknowledging the dedication to delivering a memorable
service to guests by every member of the Appellation Central
Wine Tours team.

“This award is a tribute to the
fantastic team we have – guides and customer service staff
- who are passionate about their product and truly care
about their clients,” she said.

The extremely
high quality of their overall operation was certainly the
winning formula according to Chief Judge of the awards, Dr
Joanna Fountain, a senior lecturer in tourism at Lincoln
University. She said the award reflected the “consistently
excellent service” Appellation Central Wine Tours provided
to guests.

Ms Johnston said that not only did
Appellation Central maintain “consistency” but
constantly strived to improve that quality of service.

“Our tours are as much about people as they are about
wine,” she said.

“We make sure we employ guides
who are passionate about the entire region – the human
history, the gold history and not least the history of wine
in the region.

“We’re as flexible as we can be
to tailor tours to the individual needs or tastes of the
client, and it’s the personable approach of our guides
that ensures an outstanding wine experience for each and
every client.”

Ms Johnston also acknowledged the
vineyards, restaurants and cellars the company was proud to
work with, and the beauty of the wine growing area in which
they operated.

“This award isn’t just about us,
it’s a credit to the entire Central Otago region, to the
superb wines produced in this region and to the fantastic
service we receive at every cellar door.

“We are
one of the few tour operators who go east of Queenstown, and
the sheer beauty of Gibbston, the Kawarau Gorge and
Bannockburn adds to the richness of the entire tour.”

Winners of the New Zealand sectors of the Best of Wine
Tourism Awards go on to compete in the International awards.
Not only has Appellation Central Wine Tours now won the
three New Zealand Best of Wine Tourism awards, but in 2012
they were awarded the highly coveted prize of International
Best of Wine Tourism Services.

The Great Wine
Capitals ‘Best of Wine Tourism’ awards recognise
excellence on a global level among various wine tourism
activities including the wineries, restaurants, museums and
wine tours of a specific region. Their regional and global
awards put the magnificent region of Central Otago alongside
the world-renowned wine regions of Cape Town, Bordeaux,
Bilbao/Rioja, Firenze, Mainz/Rheinhessen, San Francisco/Napa
Valley, Mendoza and Porto.


ENDS

About Appellation Central Wine
Tours
Appellation Central Wine Tours is one of
New Zealand’s leading boutique wine tour operators.
Operating all through the year it takes clients on a
discovery to taste, smell, see, hear and feel Central Otago
vineyards in Queenstown, Gibbston, Bannockburn and Cromwell.
The company first opened in 1999 under the name of Central
Otago Wine Tours and later re-branded in 2005 as Appellation
Central Wine Tours to reflect the development and growing
recognition of the wine region and their wine tours.
Appellation Central Wine Tours keeps tour group sizes to a
maximum of 11 adults per guide in order to ensure plenty of
time to interact with guides, vineyard staff, others in the
group as well as ample opportunity to taste the great wines.
The company has a Qualmark Enviro-Silver Status to its name
and was recently ranked 8th out of 120 activities in
Queenstown by customers on the independent customer feedback
website tripadvisor.com.

About the Best of
the Wine Tourism Awards

The Best of Wine Tourism
Awards celebrates the great wine capitals from around the
world, including Cape Town, Bordeaux, Bilbao/Rioja, Firenze,
Mainz/Rheinhessen, San Francisco/Nape Valley, Mendoza, Porto
and Christchurch/South Island.

The Best of Wine Tourism
Awards, created by Great Wine Capitals Global Network in
2004, recognises excellence and encourages wider
participation in wine tourism initiatives in the cities and
wine regions of the network.

Awards are given to
categories in Accommodation, Architecture, Parks and
Gardens, Arts and Culture, Innovative Experiences in Wine
Tourism, Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices and Wine Tourism
Services.

A local contest takes place in each member city
and region, with winners on the national level competing on
international level and being awarded during the annual
general meeting of the network.

© Scoop Media

Third straight win for wine tours

Queenstown’s premier wine tour company Appellation Central Wine Tours is celebrating an “outstanding” wine tourism award that aligns its business with some of the best wine tourism regions in the world.

For the third consecutive year Appellation Central has won a New Zealand award for ‘Best of Wine Tourism Services’.

The annual Best of Wine Tourism Awards honour outstanding wine tourism businesses nationally and internationally, and are run by the prestigious Great Wine Capitals Global Network.

Owner and Manager Wendy Johnston said she was “extremely proud” of their third New Zealand award, acknowledging the dedication to delivering a memorable service to guests by every member of the Appellation Central Wine Tours team.

“This award is a tribute to the fantastic team we have – guides and customer service staff – who are passionate about their product and truly care about their clients,” she said.

The extremely high quality of their overall operation was certainly the winning formula according to Chief Judge of the awards, Dr Joanna Fountain, a senior lecturer in tourism at Lincoln University. She said the award reflected the “consistently excellent service” Appellation Central Wine Tours provided to guests.

Ms Johnston said that not only did Appellation Central maintain “consistency” but constantly strived to improve that quality of service.

“Our tours are as much about people as they are about wine,” she said.

“We make sure we employ guides who are passionate about the entire region – the human history, the gold history and not least the history of wine in the region.

“We’re as flexible as we can be to tailor tours to the individual needs or tastes of the client, and it’s the personable approach of our guides that ensures an outstanding wine experience for each and every client.”

Ms Johnston also acknowledged the vineyards, restaurants and cellars the company was proud to work with, and the beauty of the wine growing area in which they operated.

“This award isn’t just about us, it’s a credit to the entire Central Otago region, to the superb wines produced in this region and to the fantastic service we receive at every cellar door.

“We are one of the few tour operators who go east of Queenstown, and the sheer beauty of Gibbston, the Kawarau Gorge and Bannockburn adds to the richness of the entire tour.”

Winners of the New Zealand sectors of the Best of Wine Tourism Awards go on to compete in the International awards. Not only has Appellation Central Wine Tours now won the three New Zealand Best of Wine Tourism awards, but in 2012 they were awarded the highly coveted prize of International Best of Wine Tourism Services.

The Great Wine Capitals ‘Best of Wine Tourism’ awards recognise excellence on a global level among various wine tourism activities including the wineries, restaurants, museums and wine tours of a specific region. Their regional and global awards put the magnificent region of Central Otago alongside the world-renowned wine regions of Cape Town, Bordeaux, Bilbao/Rioja, Firenze, Mainz/Rheinhessen, San Francisco/Napa Valley, Mendoza and Porto.

South Island’s best wine tourism ventures revealed

Spy Valley Wines in Marlborough was named today as one of the best wine tourism ventures in the South Island.

The annual Best of Wine Tourism Awards honour outstanding wine tourism businesses in the South Island, in awards run by the prestigious Great Wine Capitals Global Network.

Spy Valley Wines won this year’s new category – architecture and landscapes – for its impressive and award winning building that responds to the region’s dramatic natural environment, judges said.

Christchurch | South Island, which includes the Waipara Valley, Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson and Central Otago wine regions, belongs to the exclusive network.

Chief Judge Dr Joanna Fountain, a senior lecturer in tourism at Lincoln University, says she was “very impressed” by the growing range of wine tourism opportunities available overall.

“I was particularly impressed by the level of initiative and innovation shown by more established operators and their dedication to demonstrating consistently high standards.”

This year’s regional winners will now go on to compete against the network’s eight other cities and wine regions from around the world at the international awards in Florence, Italy.

Melton Estate, in West Melton near Christchurch, won the Wine Tourism Restaurant category, having introduced a new chef, a seasonal and mostly local menu and a new pavillion and courtyard area.

Mayor Bob Parker says the opportunity to promote Christchurch and the tourism and wine industries of the wider South Island regularly to an international audience were a key part of belonging to the Great Wine Capitals Global Network.

“We see huge value for our city and the wider South Island in using the awards to promote our region to wine tourists, who spend a lot more and stay significantly longer than your average tourist,” says Mayor Bob Parker.

Northburn Station, in Central Otago, won the Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences for its innovative and memorable visitor experience. “The setting is truly spectacular, offering products from the farm and garden is unique, and the wine is exceptional,” says Dr Fountain.

Central Otago’s specialist wine tours company, Appellation Central Wine Tours, won the award for wine tourism services for offering a “consistently excellent experience”.

Yealands Estate Wines won the award for Sustainable Wine Tourism.

“Yealands is continuing to strive to provide new opportunities for the visitor to share their vision and are really creating a total visitor experience at the winery,” says Dr Fountain. This includes a new self-guided winery drive and picnic option.

The winners receive a Best of Wine Tourism trophy and plaque as well as opportunities to promote themselves locally and internationally through the Great Wine Capitals Global Network. For more details about the winners, categories and criteria see: www.southislandwine.co.nz/awards.asp

Traveller’s Guide: Wine tourism

There is, of course, the constant worry about the effect of the weather on the harvest – and a very crowded marketplace in which to sell their wares – but that doesn’t seem to stop them from being the most hospitable of people, eager to share their knowledge. And where there’s great wine, there’s generally great food. All this adds up to a very attractive proposition for the thirsty traveller.

Generally speaking, vineyard and cellar tours are pitched at a general audience, so little or no prior knowledge is required and you’ll soon get used to spitting out your wine at tastings.

With so many wine-producing regions around the globe, the biggest problem is deciding where to go. Specialist tour operators such as Winetrails (01306 712111; www.winetrails.co.uk) can help with escorted group holidays and itineraries for independent travellers in destinations from the Auvergne to Australia. Wine Voyages (020-8991 8213; winevoyages.co.uk) currently has tours scheduled to Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and South Africa with departure dates between October 2012 and March 2013, some of which may coincide with the late harvest. (Bordeaux, for example hasn’t yet started harvesting cabernet sauvignon, a result of a wet spring and scorching summer.)

Instigated by the region’s largest producer Georges Duboeuf in 1951, Beaujolais Nouveau Day heralds the arrival of the young wine. On the third Thursday of November each year, millions of bottles are raced to Paris in one of the greatest marketing stunts the wine world has seen. If you want to visit the area, north of Lyon, to be one of the first to try the wine in situ, then Smooth Red (020-7198 8369; smoothred.co.uk) offers a three-day Beaujolais Nouveau Experience for a minimum of four people. The price of £550 per person includes local airport transfers, two nights’ BB accommodation in a private château and a private chauffeured wine tour of the region.

If you want to get hands on during harvest time (August to October in the northern hemisphere and February to April in the southern hemisphere), register for the Sonoma Grape Camp (001 707 522 5864; sonomagrapecamp.com) in October 2013 in California. This year’s activities include grape treading at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery (001 707 857 1471;  franciscoppolawinery.com) in Geyserville.

If you’re travelling with a partner or friends who aren’t quite as sold on the vinous delights, then your holiday needn’t be 100 per cent wine. Book a two-hour private Introduction to Bordeaux Wines workshop for up to 24 people at L’Ecole du Vin (00 33 5 56 00 22 66; bordeaux.com; price on request) in Bordeaux and spend the rest of your time drinking in the historic Bordeaux sights, including the magnificent Place Royale.

As unmissable as destinations such as Australia’s Hunter Valley (00 61 2 49 900 900; winecountry.com.au), the Alsace Wine Route (00 33 03 89 20 16 20; vinsalsace.com) and Stellenbosch (00 27 21 886 4310; wineroute.co.za) in South Africa clearly are, the tourist opportunities closer to home shouldn’t be overlooked.

The reputation of British wines, especially sparkling, is also in the ascendant. The English Wine Centre (01323 870164; englishwine.co.uk) in Berwick, East Sussex – which offers rooms from £135 per night – is a good base to explore the numerous local wineries, including the multi-award winning Ridgeview Estate (0845 345 7292; ridgeview.co.uk) in Ditchling Common.

Organised wine tours

An organised wine tour can be the ideal way for first-time wine tourists to get their heads around a region without having to do a lot of planning and research. Arblaster and Clarke (01730 263111; winetours.co.uk) has a four-night guided Classic Tuscany tour based in Radda in Chianti, with an itinerary (8-12 Oct) that includes visits to some of the leading estates in Tuscany including Fontodi and Tenuta Silvio Nardi. The price of £1,499pp includes accommodation, breakfast, four meals with wines, visits and tastings and transport. Flights are not included.

The Unique Traveller (020-7622 4208; theuniquetraveller.com) has a four-day Architectural Rioja wine tour (April to October) that visits wineries designed by leading innovative architects including Ysios (00 34 945 600 640; ysios.com) at Camino de la Hoya in Laguardia, which was created by Santiago Calatrava. The starting price of €999pp includes BB hotels, two lunches, winery visits and tastings and ground transport, but not travel to Spain.

Discover the World (01737 214291; discover-the-world.co.uk) has a nine-day self-drive New Zealand Boutique Wine Trail covering the vineyards of Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay and Martinborough. The price of £1,404pp includes accommodation with breakfast, nine days’ vehicle rental and some of your meals, but not flights.

Out on the town

Pre-Prohibition, most US wine was made in urban warehouses. Now, partly inspired by Bordeaux’s innovative garagiste movement of the early 1990s, there’s a resurgence of urban wineries. A tour of City Winery (001 212 608 0555; citywinery.com) in New York (above) costs $50 (£33) and includes comparing unfinished wine from the barrel with three from the tasting room. In San Francisco, you can enjoy a Russian River pinot noir in the tasting room at Bluxome Street Winery (001 415 543 5353; bluxomewinery.com) while watching all the action in the winery through the tasting room’s picture window. Further south, the recently launched Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail (urbanwinetrailsb.com) takes in 17 tasting rooms and wineries including Carr Winery (001 805 965 7985; carrwinery.com), where you can sample a Carr pinot gris among the barrels and equipment.

Staying on a working vineyard can be an excellent way to familiarise yourself with the winemaking process while getting to know the wines themselves in depth. SoloSicily (020-7193 0158; solosicily.com) is offering a three-night stay at the Cantine Virzi winery on the acclaimed Spadafora estate in western Sicily. A one-bedroom apartment with views of the vineyards starts at £345 for two people. Cellar and vineyard tours and wine tastings are available.

From October 2012 until Easter 2013 Domaine Gayda (00 33 4 68 31 64 14; domainegayda.com) in Brugairolles, 25km south-west of Carcassonne in Languedoc, has accommodation in four stylish, comfortable gîtes from €350 for two nights in a house sleeping four. The onsite Vinécole wine school offers a €40, three-hour Vineyard Visit and Tour of the South of France with tutored tasting led by Master of Wine Matthew Stubbs on 16 October.

Cruising for a boozing

Wine cruises are a great way to explore one or more regions both in depth, and at a leisurely pace. With no need to drive, you can enjoy wine tasting opportunities without designating a driver. Celebrity Cruises (0844 493 2043; celebritycruises.co.uk) offers a 12-night Vinopolis Europe cruise taking in the vineyards of France, Spain and Portugal and hosted by the wine broadcaster and writer Oz Clarke and Tom Forrest, the resident wine expert at London’s Vinopolis. The starting price of £827pp includes a cabin with a private balcony, meals and all onboard wine events. The cruise departs from Southampton on 13 October and calls at Le Havre and Le Verdon near Bordeaux, Bilbao and Vigo in Spain, and Porto in Portugal.

AmaWaterways (0808 223 5009; amawaterways.co.uk) has a seven-night Enchanting Rhine river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel that includes visits to the Caveau Klipfel winery (00 33 3 88 58 59 00; www.klipfel.com) and a wine cellar visit in Colmar (both in Alsace) as well as onboard wine lectures and wine-themed dinners. The starting price of £2,149pp includes accommodation, all meals and onboard events. The cruise departs 8 November from Amsterdam or 11 November from Zurich.

Into the valley

The Okanagan Valley in south-central British Columbia is one of the world’s most underrated wine regions. Although there are more than 120 wineries strung around a series of lakes – from Osoyoos at the US border to Tappen in the north – production levels in this breathtakingly beautiful valley are generally small. That means very little of the wine is drunk outside British Columbia and the reputation of high-quality producers like Blue Mountain (001 250 497 8244; blue mountainwinery.com) at Okanagan Falls hasn’t spread globally. Fortunately, you can try its superb brut sparkling wine at the winery’s tasting room, which is open seven days a week until 20 October and then by appointment.

Wine tourists are well served in the Okanagan. There’s not only a huge variety of grapes and styles here – from the refined pinot noir of the Tinhorn Creek Winery (001 250 498 3743; tinhorn.com) in Oliver to the delicious fruit wines of Elephant Island (001 250 496 5522; elephantislandwine.com) in Naramata – but most wineries have well-stocked tasting rooms with enthusiastic, knowledgeable staff.

A visit to the imposing Mission Hill Family Estate (001 250 768 7611; missionhillwinery.com) in West Kelowna – which comes complete with bell tower, open-air amphitheatre and terrace – is a must visit. The C$50 (£33) sommelier-guided Legacy Tasting Experience includes a tasting of six of the winery’s Library and Legacy wines.

Off the beaten track

You don’t have to stay within the classic regions to find great wine tourism. With a 90 per cent Muslim population and a hot, dry climate, Jordan may not be the first destination that springs to mind, but its rich cultural heritage includes winemaking dating back to biblical times.

Visits to the award- winning Saint George organic winery (00 962 6 461 4125; zumot-wines.com) at Wadi Saqra, Amman, and the vineyards at Sam 65km north of Amman, can be arranged in advance.

Or you can take a vineyard tour by elephant at Monsoon Valley Wines (00 66 81 701 0222; huahinhills.com) at the Hua Hin Hills Vineyard in Thailand. This award-winning winery in a former elephant corral is two and half hours’ drive south of Bangkok. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, it has invited 10 guest chefs to prepare menus and hold cookery demonstrations. The monthly events got underway this week with former El Bulli chef Alex Gares and continue to include David Thompson of Nahm restaurant in Bangkok in March.

Stay at the vineyard

Staying on a working vineyard can be an excellent way to familiarise yourself with the winemaking process while getting to  know the wines themselves in depth. SoloSicily (020-7193 0158; solosicily.com) is offering a  three-night stay  at the Cantine Virzi winery on the acclaimed Spadafora estate in western Sicily. A one-bedroom apartment with views of the vineyards starts at £345 for two people. Cellar and vineyard tours and wine tastings are available.

From October 2012 until Easter 2013 Domaine Gayda  (00 33 4 68 31 64 14; domainegayda.com) in Brugairolles, 25km south-west of Carcassonne in Languedoc, has accommodation in four stylish, comfortable gîtes from €350 for two nights in a house sleeping four. The onsite Vinécole wine school offers a €40, three-hour Vineyard Visit and Tour of the South of France with tutored tasting led by Master of Wine Matthew Stubbs on 16 October.

Château Gruaud-Larose embraces wine tourism

“Society is changing,” he says, “and travelling has become easier. More people feel the need to have their own experience, to see for themselves. I think there is a real demand for wine tourism.”

Wine tourism at Gruaud-Larose is headed by Maisa Mansion whose team members appreciate wine and are able to pass on their passion to their visitors while sharing the history and intimacy of Château Gruaud-Larose. Jean Merlaut recognises its value, saying, “This is a great opportunity for us to promote our château and to show the tremendous work we accomplish when producing our wines.”

In addition to wine tasting sessions, cooking classes and harvest workshops, the tours are adapted to the interests of the visitors and also include new and innovative programmes such as, “The Pearls of the Medoc”, “The Belle Époque”, “The Good Winemaker”, “The True Médoc-Style” … .

The estate’s “White Path” tour, initiated in 2010, is an award winning tour that shows the ecological and modern approach of this great vineyard. Priced at 15 euros per person, the tour takes two hours and winds up with a tasting of the Grand Vin and also the second wine, Sarget de Gruaud Larose.

Seminars, cocktail parties, lunches or dinners can also be organized by the Château. Group tours cost less. (See more details at http://www.gruaud-larose.com/timeless,034.html). The wine tours, which began in 2009, will attract more than 6,000 visitors in 2012. The visitor profile has become increasingly international, with almost two thirds coming from Asia and America.

The story of Château Gruaud Larose goes back to 1725 to L’Abbé Gruaud and the family of Joseph-Sébastien de Larose, his son-in-law and heir. In these 300 years, the château has produced some iconic wines characterised by finesse, when young and elegance, after a long ageing, but always with an underlying powerful structure.

According to the Château, “Every vintage reminds us that Gruaud is the soil, the tannins and the terroir; and Larose is poetry, aromas and bouquet.”

Tuscany: If it’s Wednesday, then it must be Montepulciano …

Opposite our group, the houses of a small village were clustered round a medieval tower. The villa we were visiting had that necessary, slightly rundown look that declares that it has no need to impress.

“It looks just as I hoped,” Bill told me over the din of cicadas. The Farnhams run Constellation, a company that’s been producing and marketing wine in upstate New York since 1945. They had seized the opportunity to join this new Grand Italian Wine Tour to the spiritual home of European wine.

“We drink Rufina at home when we can,” explained Bill’s wife Jo, her eyes bright. “But now we’re here.”

Also getting out of the minibus were Adrian, a Manchester barrister travelling with his wife Miranda, and David and Felicity, retired cheese manufacturers from the West Country. Our tour guide, Silvia, was a wine expert from Turin who’d be leading this group of serious oenophiles from Chianti to the Amalfi Coast. Wine tourism is big business in Italy but most trips stay in one region. The Grand Wine Tour is a new idea, a crash course in drinking yourself all the way from Tuscany to Naples.

It was already far too hot. “Global warming,” said Federico Giuntini Massetti as he introduced himself to us. Slow and steady, Federico is responsible for Selvapiana wines up on this hilltop, east of Florence. His fattoria (farm) produces 220,000 bottles a year. I’ve seen them costing anything from £12-£35 in the UK.

“Heat creates more sugar,” Federico explained. “And that increases the alcohol content. Our wines used to be 12.5 per cent alcohol. Now 14.5 per cent.”

Given the temperature, our tour of the vines was kept thankfully short. Federico soon led everyone inside the villa that the Giuntini family purchased in 1827 from the bishops of Florence. An old man, very much the figure of a Tuscan padrone, waved his hat at me from where he was sheltering under an olive tree. “That is Francesco,” said Federico. “My adopted father. He is the fifth generation of the Giuntini family making wine here.”

Inside the villa we had a quick tour of the cellar, a pleasantly cool place full of French oak botti (barrels), dusty bottles and that familiar cold, stale vinegar smell that permeates all wineries. Bill wandered around in a daze of delight – but David and Adrian had plenty of questions for Federico. Had any of these wines been hidden during the war?

“No, here in Italy we did not take winemaking seriously in those days. Not like the French,” Federico explained. “I think we probably hid the cheese and meat instead!”

Upstairs the tasting room was set out with chairs around a white table cloth beneath a fresco by Ghirlandaio that Don Francesco had rescued from a dilapidated chapel on the Selvapiana estate. Federico’s Rufinas are strong and subtle. No wonder they’re not cheap. He’d agreed in advance to let us sample five wines but sensing the men’s enthusiasm and expertise Federico also uncorked his 2007 Riserva (which Silvia considered a fantastic year) and the 1980, “an excellent year” by all accounts. Appreciative noises were made. The wines were accompanied by a rustic lunch of crostini, bruschetta and guinea fowl lasagne prepared by Federico’s sister.

“You have a terrible job, Silvia,” David teased our guide as yet more bottles reached the table. Conversation was loosening up. Adrian asked about the economy. “This is a fantastic country,” Federico insisted. “I am very proud of being Italian but it’s very tough now.” Looking to the future he was hoping to send his son to one of the leading wine universities, such as Bordeaux or Davis in California. “It used to be that the father and grandfather taught the next generation how to make wine but now our sons teach us.”

Somewhat the worse for wear, but well pleased with our first visit, the group tripped back down to the minibus and the minibus returned us to Florence by early afternoon.

“That place was so tidy,” Bill confided to anyone listening. “Our winery is a disaster. Hosepipes everywhere!”

“We normally only drink at weekends,” Adrian told me almost apologetically. The afternoon was to be spent sleeping lunch off in our hotel overlooking the Arno.

The next morning everyone was up early for the first of two chianti classico tastings, the first up in the hills at a cantina called Isole e Olena. Its modern premises produce 200,000 bottles under the direction of Paolo de Marchi, an amiable Piedmontese interloper. Paolo is well known in Tuscany, not just for his rigorous production methods but also for his energy, which bowls you over. Imagine an Italian Robin Williams spouting philosophy and viticulture in equal measure.

“This is a wine that talks of a place!” he exclaimed as our group assembled in front of a stunning picture window overlooking forested hillsides. “The fingerprint of wine is in the soil.” As Paolo poured from a bottle of his beloved Cepparello, David pointed out that we were having our first drink of the day at 10am. “I can’t get over how decadent this feels,” admitted Adrian.

Paolo had much professional advice to impart, leaving Bill with a smile of happy fascination on his face.

“Never try to improve a bad wine by blending. You just get more bad wine!” Handing out more glasses Paolo added “And never try to sell a wine you yourself don’t like. I have learnt these things the hard way. And remember in viticulture no solutions come overnight!”

Unfortunately Paolo had double-booked himself this morning, so after an hour of quickfire anecdote and insight he went rapidly round the room shaking hands and leaving his wife, Marta, in charge of some gloriously sweet vin santo. His parting shot was to remind everyone that no one actually makes vin santo. “You just put it in a caratello (small barrel) and forget about it for seven years!”

The room was suddenly quiet. I asked Marta about her husband’s high energy levels and she admitted that on the rare occasions he relaxes, Paolo does feel very, very tired. Out of necessity, Marta takes life more gently. She escorted the group slowly round the extensive cellars, blasted recently out of the hillside and resembling Blofeld’s underground lair.

Wines at Isole e Olena proved to be no cheaper than at Selvapiana. In fact the vin santo cost €40 (£31). Despite expressions of delight, I noticed nobody bought anything – but with nine top winemakers to visit, and baggage allowance to take into consideration, it was still early days.

Leaving Isole e Olena our minibus plunged down out of the forests west of Siena to the yellow wheat fields that surround the city. At Fattoria di Felsina, lunch was laid on for us and we were joined by a group of 15 top sommeliers and restaurateurs who had arrived from England that morning. Miranda asked me which of the young men with shaven heads or spiky hair I thought had two Michelin stars under their belt.

We were then taken on a tour by Caterina, third generation of the Mazzocolin family at Felsina. We saw the cellars which open out from an ornate 17th-century barn where chianti classico is stored in huge elongated barriques, specially built in Slavonian oak to fit between the barn’s marble columns. Felsina, a baroque hostelry for pilgrims en route to Rome, sits right on the southern border of Chianti Classico. It has also started producing a chardonnay, I Sistri, which is quaffable but will never be great because, as Silvia explained, grapes in Tuscany ripen so quickly.

The meal turned out to be a lengthy affair. Caterina’s father, Giuseppe Mazzocolin, has raised this fattoria to near iconic status in Italy, but today he was keen to promote Felsina’s four kinds of olive oil. A single bottle should cost up to €50 (£39), he explained, but until now Tuscan wine has been subsidising the oil. “If you buy olive oil for a few euros at the airport that is not olive oil,” he insisted. Giuseppe grew increasingly generous towards the sommeliers, sending for older and older vintages for Caterina to uncork. You soon couldn’t move on the table for glasses. Adrian was delighted when a 1983 chianti classico was sent round.

“Opening a 1983,” murmured Silvia. “That’s the first vintage they ever made. It’s a real treat.”

An afternoon break in Siena had been arranged but the day was already getting late. As dessert had failed to materialise at Felsina, Silvia tempted us away with the promise of an ice cream in the Campo. It was a good day to visit, as the track for the Palio horserace had been laid that morning and restaurants were just putting out their tables again on the clotted yellow sand. Plunged in among non-oenophile tourists again, I was suddenly aware that our wine tour was giving us unusual levels of access to an Italy most visitors don’t normally see. Next up was Umbria for some Montepulciano, and beyond that Rome beckoned. Naples was 400km to the south. “If it’s Wednesday, it must be Montepulciano,” I wrote. Not your usual tasting notes.

Travel essentials

Tasting there

Arblaster Clarke (01730 263111; winetours.co.uk) offers autumn wine tours of Tuscany from £1,499 per person, and Sicily from £2,399 per person, including BB and some meals with wines, all visits and tastings, coach transfer and wine guide, but excluding flights. This year’s 10-day Grand Italian Wine Tour cost £3,450 per person. Details of the 2013 tours will be available next month.

Getting there

Adrian Mourby travelled to Florence with Railbookers (020-3327 0869; railbookers.com) which offers outbound rail travel, three nights in Florence and return flights via British Airways from £599 per person.

Florence Day Trip: Tuscan Wine & Boar Festival

One of the more historical events that draws both locals and tourists to Tuscany the last weekend in August and the first two weekends in September is Tuscany’s Wine and Wild Boar Festival.  Wine tourism in Italy is a huge industry as it is, but the numerous annual celebrations, events, and festivals just add to the mix, especially from Florence to Siena.  The regions of Chianti, Montalcino, and Montepulciano are the more famous regions in the region and where a majority of these fun activities and wine tours take place.

Image by Arnaud Bachelard

The Wine and Wild Boar Festival provides numerous opportunities to taste the traditional cuisine and special dishes made especially for the festival from wild boar meat as well as some of the region’s tastiest wines and so much more.  This is the ideal way to experience the best in cuisine, wild boar dishes, and wines all at once over the course of several days and weekends.  Numerous towns throughout Tuscany host these festivals so you will plenty of opportunity to visit at least a couple if you are touring this region on vacation.

Women and children walk around in medieval clothing similar to what you would see at most Renaissance Fairs.  It’s almost like visiting the set of knights in shining armor movie.  You have the opportunity to participate in medieval games offered up by the many hosts decorated in there period garb.  It’s great fun for families who have their children tagging along as there is plenty for everyone to get involved in.  It is the closest representation of the culture and history of the imaginable past.

In most locations, the Wine and Wild Boar Festival’s last day features the start of the grand feast which in most cases will result in empty dishes and full stomachs.  The meal will usually be complemented with olive oil, Tuscan honey, and a glass (or glasses) of wine.  Make sure that you have your accommodation and travel reservations made well in advance as the festival gets fairly busy in the larger Tuscan cities.

Hotels in Tuscany

Hotel Duomo – Montepulciano
Average Price: €60
Average Rating: 8.9

Hotel Cannon d’Oro – Siena
Average Price: €60
Average rating:8

Grand Hotel Duomo – Pisa
Average Price: €63
Average Rating:7.2

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