Galileo once said: “Wine is sunlight, held together by water.” The libation feeds the soul and lightens the mood. And toasting with wine is a sign of jubilation. It should come as little surprise that the landscapes from which wine is born are gorgeous, welcoming and dripping in a special sense of place. Visit one of these spots and it will seduce you with kaleidoscopic landscapes, brilliantly flavored wines and delectable farm-to-table cuisine. Blend in a range of heart-racing activities (think bike rides and ballooning) for the ultimate vacation destination. So grab your true love, pack your ardor and prepare for some tasting tours. Guaranteed loss of inhibitions goes without saying.
Franschhoek, South Africa
Photo Credit: Delaire Graff Images
It’s not the tower-of-giraffes, crash-of-hippos, parade-of-elephants South Africa you might imagine. Rather the winelands are entrenched in racy gold valleys that cut through jagged peaks just northeast of Cape Town. Franschhoek, one of the most popular, draws gourmands and connoisseurs for its artisan food products and scenery as much as for its wines. Here, French Huguenots took advantage of land ceded them by the Dutch East India Company in 1688, bringing their viticulture knowledge with them — as well as their decidedly French savoir-faire. The result is family-owned vineyards, some of them three centuries old, many manifesting indigenous Cape Dutch architecture, abounding with gables and thatched roofs. Many are multi-purpose, also comprising museums, farm stores, gardens and cafés. The Franschhoek region dabbles in everything from superlative whites (sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc) to velvety reds (merlot, shiraz). But, it’s most praised for its festive sparkling wine, MCC (methode cap classique). Franschhoek, the village, with its galleries, cafés and boutiques, buzzes with an artsy vibe. For the most mobility, rent a car, but do consider hopping on the Franschhoek Wine Tram one afternoon during your stay. And try Franschhoek’s Artisan Food Route, an alternative sojourn to mere wine tasting that stops at artisanal food producers, such as bread bakers, olive growers, charcuterie and cheese makers, plus outposts for smoked trout and herbal medicines.
Sleep: Poised at the highest point of Helshoogte Mountain Pass where Franschhoek intersects with Stellenbosch, another esteemed wineland, Delaire Graff Estate, is an opulent compound that includes two vineyards, two restaurants, a spa and a remarkable open-air tasting room. It’s all adorned with stunning South African art, most of it from the owner’s personal collection. The 11 guest rooms are situated over the vineyards with jaw dropping views of famous Table Mountain in the distance. Panoramic windows in the guest rooms and personal infinity pools create the illusion of floating in the clouds (room rates start at about $785 a night and include breakfast and some tastings; delaire.co.za). The sort of place that rouses all the senses at once, La Residence, an intimate hotel just outside of Franschhoek Village seems to be born from a fantastical dream. Full of color, a melding of colonial grandeur, local artistry and European chic, the mansion-style hotel is utterly romantic. Sommeliers hand-pick local wines to match the chef’s festive farm-to-table dishes (room rates start at about $462 a night and include breakfast; laresidence.co.za).
Photo courtesy of The Royal Portfolio
Eat: Chef Margot Janse conjures magic at The Tasting Room in Le Quartier hotel, with her surprise tasting menu, a changing mélange of African-inspired dishes. Possibly the most lauded restaurant experience in South Africa, for serious foodies, this is a must.
Photo courtesy of The Royal Portfolio
Texas Hill Country
Photo Credit: Steve Rawls
Cast aside your visions of tumbleweeds and cow dudes dancing the two-step. The Texas Hill Country, a swathe of hilly, wild-flower-studded land with scrubby, almost human-looking oak trees near Austin is equal to any of the world’s powerhouse wine regions. In an expanse that rambles from San Antonio to Lampasas, amid countryside dotted with farmhouses, peach orchards and barbecue, you’ll find 35 unique vineyards making wines from viognier to chardonnay to syrah to sangiovese — all from Texan-grown grapes. Many have garnered prestigious global awards. Besides sampling wine, the Hill Country offers an array of diversions. Go aerial in a hot-air balloon; bathe in a natural spring pool (like Hamilton Pool or Austin’s Barton Springs); head to Austin for shopping in the cool SoCo nabe. Whiz through trees on the Wimberley Zipline. And seek out live music — it abounds in gin joints around the small town of Gruene.
Sleep: Base your stay in the rising gastronomic capital of Fredericksburg, a town settled by Germans in 1846. Though still manifesting some German nuances — including an archaic 19-century dialect spoken by old timers — the village now glitters with creative chic, which can be seen at the boutiques, galleries, bakeries, bars and eateries. Book into the Inn at the Creek, set in an 1880s structure. The Seventh Heaven Room vaunts a two-person Jacuzzi (room rates start at $99 a night and include breakfast; inn-on-the-creek.com). More rural, exceedingly elegant and somewhat bucolic, Inn Above Onion Creek has a pool, hot tub and 88 acres of rolling landscape, some crisscrossed with hiking trails. Check into the Nance Suite for its stunning views (room rates start at $199 a night and include breakfast and dinner; innaboveonioncreek.com).
Eat: At Cabernet Grill in Fredericksburg, chef/owner Ross Burtwell pairs the state’s largest selection of Texas wine with his distinctly Lone Star cuisine. Dig into such Texan-accented dishes as buffalo enchiladas, jalapeno-stuffed quail and sesame-seared red snapper from the Texas Gulf Coast. On the main wine road, US 290, Rebecca Rather’s The Pink Pig packs a primo picnic to take on your vineyard ramble. Don’t miss her buttery, pig-shaped cookies.
Next: The Champagne Region, Australia, and Argentina ►
The Champagne Region, France
Photo courtesy of Les Crayères
Even the quaint villages have inebrious names in France’s Champagne region: Bouzy, Dizy and such. The countryside that begins about an hour northeast of Paris and stretches nearly to Belgium’s border bubbles with crumbling monasteries, towering church spires, imposing chateaus and hills flecked with chunky gray stone. Vignerons (small, family owned champagne makers) abound, but you’ll find some of the best-known champagne houses clustered in historic rivals Reims and Epernay. Beneath both cities, a honeycomb of caves, once Roman chalk mines, house some of the most revered champagne producers. In Reims, don’t miss Pommery, where 101 steps lead to 120 linked caves, loaded with 25 million bottles. In Epernay, where Benedictine monk Dom Perignon invented champagne, a stellar cellar is Mercier, France’s best-selling bubbly. Further afield, be sure to stop at Lanois Père & Fils in the tiny Le Misnil sur Oger, for its superior cellars and fascinating champagne memorabilia and antiques museum. Note: To tour most champagne houses, advance reservations are required. The outfitter OenoVasion offers on an off-road tasting tour by Land Rover, stopping at secret champagne houses along the way. Active types will want to hike Montagne de Reims’ rise, an immense tree-speckled plateau punctuated with manicured rows of pinot noir and pinot meunier vines. Long trails rim then meander into fairy-tale forests. Save time to visit the myriad World War II battlefields in the Ardennes, including the site of the Battle of the Bulge. Troyes, a village composed of perfectly preserved Renaissance-era half-timbered houses and narrow, winding cobblestoned streets, boasts nine Gothic churches, artsy boutiques and alluring cafés.
Sleep: Splurge at Les Crayères — a palace hotel of 16 rooms — nestled in an English-style, chestnut tree-spiked park in the heart of Reims. Here, meals at the Michelin-starred restaurant can begin with any of 300 rare champagne vintages (room rates start at about $460 a night; lescrayeres.com) For a rural stay on the touristic wine road, try Les Barbotines in Bouzy, a stylish B & B ensconced in a 13th-century house of the Paul Clouet Champagne Estate. The maison’s pinot noir-based champagnes are a must-try (room rates start at about $130 a night and include breakfast; lesbarbotines.com).
Eat: You can’t get a bad meal in the Champagne region, but eating here can be expensive. Consider assembling a picnic from the food stalls at Boulingrin Market in Reims. Order oysters at one of the 12 tables in Lilliputan La Bocal, set in the rear of the market’s fish shop La Poissonnerie des Halles.
Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia
Photo courtesy of Tourism Victoria
Hey Joey! Is that a mob of kangaroos in my vineyard? That’s right. Head to the Yarra Valley, just 38 miles east of Melbourne, and you may well see some marsupials among the grapes. Nearly two centuries old, this wine-growing enclave occupies undulating verdant landscapes. Thick forests patchwork the land, rivers and lakes mottle it, colorful kookaburras (tree king-fishers) balance on branches and butterflies caress a low-hanging sky with rainbow-hued wings. Seventy wineries, a plethora of restaurants, fruit orchards, vegetable gardens and farms occupy the area. And the valley, which also houses an art colony, has a bohemian vibe that stresses creativity. Some wineries are distinctly high-end while others — tin shacks and rustic ranches restored by independent growers — keep things simpler. A plethora of farm-to-table restaurants serve local organic products, celebrity chefs concoct masterpieces, family-owned boutiques and galleries showcase local talent and rows and rows of vineyards — thriving in volcanic, nutrient-loaded soil — sustain grapes for pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, shiraz and chardonnay. For intimate winery visits in a convertible take an excursion with Top Down Tours. In addition to cooking classes and wine tasting, this hilly valley invites guests to hike, bike, hot-air balloon, sky dive, fish and more. The Yarra Warra Museum, a private contemprary art collection, will thrill art buffs. And Melbourne, less than an hour away, infuses a dose of bustling urbanity.
Sleep: At Balgownie Estate Vineyard Resort and Spa, 69 rooms cascade into corridors of vines, making this large, rural resort feel intimate. Fully appointed with tennis courts, a pool and a knockout spa, this is a stylish stay with its own fine wines — you’ll flip over the reds (room rates start at about $275 a night; balgownieestate.com.au). For a stay that matches the funky mood of the valley, check into the Valley Farm Vineyard Cottages, where structures are derived from a former satellite tracking station and composed of a plethora of recycled materials. Fun, with a quirky chi-chi spirit, the adults-only hotel is comprised of self-contained cottages (two with wood-burning fireplaces). An alpaca paddock and the Trellis Winery sit nearby; eateries, shops and other activities are just five minutes away (room rates start at about $152 a night; (valleyfarm.com.au).
Eat: Local cheese makers, bakers, chocolatiers, coffee roasters, beer brewers and gardeners offer their products throughout this beautiful valley. Cafés, cellar doors (the spots where you actually purchase wines), tasting rooms and food stands are ubiquitous, all drawing from the local landscape. But De Bortoli’s Locale, at the heart of an eponymous wine estate, defines the region. Family owned, the estate offers handcrafted pasta, bread and gelato, served up with site-grown vegetables, herbs and fruit, and of course, their own wine. An evolving menu offers everything from house-made charcuterie and mozzarella to pumpkin ravioli and free-range duck breast with garden beets. If not stopping for a meal, do visit the cheese room or the cellar door for a wine tasting.
Mendoza Province, Argentina
Plum, cherry and peach orchards waft their fragrance into brisk mountain air. Olive groves rustle like people chatting at cocktail parties. Ancient canals made by native cultures purvey melting glacial water from snowcapped peaks. A temperate valley unfolds against an immense, ever-cobalt sky. And everywhere, there are vineyards — most of them presenting plump grapes in striking scarlet hues. This is Cujo in the Argentine Mendoza province, home to — among other prodigious grapes — the mighty malbec. Located in the eastern foothills of the Andes, near the colonial city of Mendoza, more than 600 miles west of Buenos Aires, this region accounts for 80% of Argentina’s wine. Here, countless state-of-the-art wineries dot a pastoral, still-rustic landscape. Divine Tours offers a six-day, five-night bike tour that takes you down the back roads for tastings and meals at intimate bodegas. Mendoza’s mountain setting ensures much to do besides imbibe. You can ride horses, whitewater raft, trek, fish, paraglide or play golf. Close by, Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas, sets the extreme athlete’s heart aflutter.
Sleep: Stay in urban Mendoza, a city defined by myriad fountains and plazas, shaded avenues, tile floors, low-rise buildings with soaring ceilings and a Spanish-influenced lifestyle that still takes advantage of the afternoon siesta. Be regal at the Park Hyatt Mendoza where sleek, contemporary guest rooms and a restored 19th-century, pillared facade meld modernity with the past. The Kaua Club Spa’s Mendoza Wine Body Glow treatment provides an alternate way to ingest your favorite vintage (room rates start at about $147 a night; parkhyatt.com). At Cavas Wine Lodge, near the mountain wine village of Lujan de Cujo, relish terraces with vineyard views, in-suite fireplaces, a Moorish-themed spa and gastronomic meals. A private dinner in the house wine cellar is unforgettable (room rates start at $375 a night and include breakfast; cavaswinelodge.com).
Photo courtesy of Courtesy of Park Hyatt Hotels
Eat: Known for his grilling techniques, celebrity chef Francis Mallmann brings indigenous Argentine cooking methods to the new age. He puts clay ovens, spits and pits in the kitchen of an historic building and matches all the meals with local wine. To be immersed in the Italian culture of the area, explore the menu at Francesco Barbara Restaurant, complete with an Italian grandma cooking in the kitchen.