Top 5 Wine Regions in Europe for Wine Lovers

If you want to know the whole story of a region, its climate, the lives of its inhabitants, their taste and their ingenuity, then you have to know their wines!
Some regions in the world are best known for specializing in winemaking and if you are a wine lover, you would enjoy visiting our Top 5 Wine Regions in Europe. 

Alentejo. Portugal

There are more than 250 producers, with an area under cultivation in the order of 22,000 hectares.
Visit Borba, if possible when the Wine Festival takes place in November. In the Historical Centre there are various “tasquinhas†(small taverns/restaurants), some with enormous clay wine-pots, that offer local products. During the festival, there are places on a special route visited by the Confraria dos Enófilos do Alentejo (confraternity of wine-lovers).

You should also visit Cabeção and Vila de Frades in December when you can taste the new wine from the producers in a festival. In Vila de Frades, within the framework of the Vitifrades event, there is a competition for local “pot-made†wine (2nd weekend in December). In this town as much as in two others nearby, Vila Alva and Vila Ruiva, wine of this kind is still produced using methods very close to those used by the Romans.
Finally, you should not miss the Enoteca and the Museu do Vinho in Redondo. Start at the museum located in the Tourist Office, make an excursion into the Serra d’Ossa, enjoy a succulent lunch and spend the afternoon in the town.

Bordeaux, France.

You can go on a guided tour of the city on foot, by boat, or by bike, visit the wine country, or see the region on a river cruise. You will undoubtedly appreciate a wine tasting or discovering Bordeaux by day or night. 
Visiting Bordeaux is a real treat and one that always includes a few surprises. 

The most popular destination is Saint-Emilion for its superb wine, but also for its extraordinary, well-preserved historic village.
Located one hour by car from Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion is an adorable medieval town surrounded by 5,500 hectares of vines that was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999!

La Rioja, Spain.

Spain has to be part of the top countries known for making amazing wine.!
La Rioja is a community explicitly known for its winemaking found at the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains, home to over 500 wineries.
You will have a chance to enjoy wine from family-owned vineyards to the mega industrial wineries that produce millions of wine bottles annually. One of the famous variety grown in La Rioja is Tempranillo, which can also be blended with other wine varieties like Mazuelo and Grenache.

The best part about La Rioja is that you can quickly get around the area and the countryside is a fantastic place to visit if you want to get out of the city life for a moment.
During autumn, the leaves will turn to vibrant red and yellow shades making the vineyards look like they are on fire.

The Douro Valley, Portugal.

The Douro Valley could as easily be called the enchanted valley for the beauty and magic that its landscapes offer.
Douro wines (table wines and Port wine) are produced on its hillsides, and you will cross the river from north to south to discover viewpoints that offer the best vistas. Along the way, you can admire breathtaking landscapes over the river and visit vineyards, towns, and villages until you reach Miranda do Douro, the point at which the river enters Portugal.

You can start at Vila Nova de Gaia with a visit to the lodges where Port wine is aged to know this wine a little better. You can also see the old Rabelo boats on the river, the vessels that carried the wine from the Quintas where it is produced to the mouth of the river, before the various dams that made the river navigable were built.

Tuscany, Italy.

Tuscany is located in central Italy and stretches from the Apennines to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It’s the most enduringly famous of all Italian wine regions, thanks to the romantic glamor of its endless rolling hills, cypress-lined country roads, and hilltop villages.

But even without all of this, Tuscany stands tall with its reputation founded on such iconic wines as the Sangiovese triumvirate of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
The so-called Super Tuscans, such as Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Tignanello and Le Pergole Torte, mostly take advantage of the Toscana IGT appellation to enable the use of non-indigenous varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Champagne, France.

The Champagne-Ardenne region is known worldwide for the quality of its vineyards and cellars. They cover more than 30,000 hectares and mobilize the talents of thousands of farmers. The Champagne-Ardenne region also has a cultural heritage waiting to be discovered without moderation.

Champagne Cellars & Vineyards are indeed an original way to discover the richness of the Champagne-Ardenne. Located in villages or in cities, these are highlights of the wine tradition of the region.