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Australia - Adelaide Hills

Australia - Barossa Valley - South Australia

Austria - Southern - Styrian wine region

Austria - Northern - Wachua wine region

	Malat B+B and winery is near Krems on the Danube river. The modern accommodation overlooks vineyards and Gottweig Abbey. The winery has been in the family for 9 generations and the cellar dates back to the late 17th century. This is a lovely family run business, we enjoyed our stay and discussing wines with some of the other guests. Ask about the free bikes and take a river boat up the Danube to Spitz and ride back approximately 20 kms through vineyards and great little tourist towns. Visited August 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.
	Holzapfel winery tasting room. During our bike ride from the Malat B+B we came across this winery and tasted interesting local wines. I was fascinated by the soil struture models displayed on the walls from various vineyards. Visited August 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.
	Domane winery in Durnstein is a large winery in the area. They have a modern tasting room with high quality wines. I like the Gruner Veltliner and Rieslings. There are a number of vineyards with different soil structure, producing unique flavours. The town of Durnstein is a beautiful tourist town on the bike trail and a good place to taste the local apricot chocolate and schnapps. Visited August 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.
		Wine museum in Langenlois a short drive from Malat B+B. There is an entry fee for the cellar tour that last approximatelty 90 minutes. There is also an educational walking trail from the car park. The vines at the start of the walk are labled with each grape variety. We were too late to enter the museum and walked into Langenlois for dinner. Visited August 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.

France

	Le Mas des Monedes B+B is located in the small village of St. Paul le Jeune with narrow streets, in Southern Rhone. Audrey has a book setting out day trips. Drive to all the top tourist spots. Including wineries, largest underground caves with stalactites and stalagmites (ask about the English tour times). Breakfast is great with local home made produce, sitting on the balcony looking over the area. See if you can book in for dinner it's a must as the quality and presentation of Sebastian's food is amazing. Visited June 2013 Click photo to go to the web site.
		Villa St Simon B+B located over looking the Gironde River in the small town of Blaye, not far from Bordeaux. The house has great charm and history. Leslie the host runs wine tasting evenings on site. His knowledge of French wines is excellent and his selection of bottles of wines to buy on site is extensive. If you want to have a winery or cognac tour the hosts can arrange a tour to suit your needs. Visited June 2013 Click photo to go to the web site.

Italy - Piedmont

Cascina Sant' Eufemia B+B over looks a valley of vines in Piedmont, North Western Italy. The hosts make wine on the property and a tour can be arranged. Chiara and Paolo speak very good English, they have bottles of their wine plus local produce for sale at good prices. Walking around this area through the vineyards is excellent. Try to arrange winery tours in the area ahead of time, most are family run business and they are very busy. Below is Ceretto winery where you can walk in and taste their wines, the winery is a great piece or architecture, based on having the tasting inside a grape. The view from here is terrific, see below. The supermarket a short drive away is full of wine as are some bottle shops. We tasted wine by the glass in a coffee shop, why not! Visited June 2013 Click photo to go to the web site.

Tasting in Ceretto Winery, Piedmont. A short drive from the B+B this winery has a large range of wines to taste. To get to the tasting room you have to walk through the cellar full of wine barrels! Visited June 2013 Click photo to go to the web site.

Italy - Sicily

	Farm House Tarantola Alcamo Agriturismo B+B North Western Sicily is situated in a valley surrounded by rolling vine covered hills. Filippo is the wine maker and produces 3 wines in his winery 30 minutes drive from the B+B. Unfortunately we did not visit the winery as a booking is needed in advance. However Filippo spends most of his time at the farm and was very happy to explain how he makes his wines. We enjoyed the walks through the vineyards. A dinner at the farm is a must, we enjoyed the many courses of fresh produce. The chef Rino was very entertaining. Visited July 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.
	Donnafugata Winery near Marsala Sicily. We booked a tour and tasting of 6 wines. The wines come from many areas in Sicily, including the volcanic island of Pantelleria between Sicily and Africa. Specific to this island is the processing of the Zibibbo grapes. The grapes are all hand picked in this difficult terrain from 100 year old vines. After picking, the grapes are dried naturally in the sun for 20 - 30 days before being added to the fresh must. Visited July 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.
	COS B+B and winery near Vittoria in Eastern Sicily. We had a lovely room with a balcony over looking the grape vines and the pool was a bonus. The breakfast under the large veranda was excellent and looked over the vegetable garden and vines. Joanna took us for a tour of the winery. You can see in the photo the amphora's are placed in the ground, using modern wine making tequniques with amphora's produces some great wines. Visited July 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.
	Gulfi Winery near Vittoria in Eastern Sicily. We booked a tour which included a meal and tasting of 4 wines. The meal was amazing with 4 courses and wines to match. The winery is modern and produces very nice Nero D'Avola from the local area. Accommodation is also available on site. Visited July 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.
	Planeta's Buonivini winery near the baroque town of Noto is one of many Planeta wineries in Sicily. For a small charge we did a tour of the winery and tasted a number of wines. The winery is built into the side of a hill helping to keep the inside temperature cool during the hot Sicilian summers. We enjoyed their wines and in particular the Nero d'Avola. There is B+B accomodation, available on the property. The accomodation is renovated farm houses, Planeta engaged an Italian artist to design furniture made from recycled furniture which gives it a funky comfortable feel. Visited July 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.

Italy - Tuscany

	Castello di Volpaia is a small fortified village near Radda in Chianti. It has accommodation and is a working winery. The village of 45 people was built in the 11th century on top of a hill with great views. There are 2 restaurants, one with a long history serving traditional home style food and the other a cafe. Both are very popular in tourist season. We enjoyed the tour of the winery, it was amazing to hear how they converted the buildings and moved the equipment inside. The town of Radda is 7 kms away it is a quaint town with tourist shops including a renowned gourmet food shop, there is also a small supermarket and a tasting wine bar (see below). Visited July 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.
	Casa Porciatti Wine Store is in a small town called Radda in Chianti. It is a great place to taste local wines for a small charge and learn about the different growing areas in Tuscany and how they influence the flavours. Ask about the difference between Chianti classico, Super Tuscan and Brunello di Montalcino, Sangiovese is not just Sangiovese. There was also a good selection of wines to buy. Visited July 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.
	Castello D'Albola winery is a lovely drive from Castello di Volpaia (our accommodation). Set in an old castle, they conduct regular free tours and tasting. The tasting includes wines, grappa and olive oil. The cellar has some very old bottles of wine and the history about the Estate was interesting. Visited July 2014 Click photo to go to the web site.

Portugal

Spain

	Pago de Trascasas B+B is located in northern Spain, a quiet little village with no shops but a short drive from the busy town of Valladolid. The hosts Pablos and Ines are wine makers and a tour of their family winery next door is a must, ask Pablos to see the underground cave where the traditional wine making took place. Ask about the Provincial Wine Museum a short drive passed Valladolid, it's excellent and you can book into a wine tasting course and tour the Penafiel Castle (check for the English speaking tour time). In the small town of Penafiel below the Castle you can wander the narrow streets and see some interesting Spanish heritage including an old bull fighting ring. Visited June 2013 Click photo to go to the web site.
		Wine tasting at the Penafiel Castle - Provincial Wine Museum - Museo del vino. Visited June 2013 Click photo to go to the web site.

Chile

California

England

	Gusbourne Winery in Kent. We enjoyed the tour of the vineyard, winery and tasting of several award wining wines. Sophie and Cheryl were excellent guides and answered many technical questions about the viticulture and winemaking processes. Gusbourne Winery is modern with a lovely tasting room upstairs and sell sparkling and still wines at the cellar door (only sparkling wines are available on line). We were very impressed with the quality of the sparkling's, Chardonnay and Pinot wines. Tour costs £25 per person, visited Dec 2018 Click photo to go to the web site.
	Biddenden Winery in Kent. We had a personal tour of the vineyard and winery finishing off with a tasting of their wines (sparkling, white, red and rose) and apple juice. Biddenden Vineyards is Kent's original commercial vineyard, family run by second and third generation of the Barnes family managing the estate. They grow eleven varieties of grapes including Ortega, Bacchus, Dornfelder, Schonburger to name a few. I found these varieties interesting as I had not tasted them before. The tasting room is also a shop with many locally made products. Tour costs £15 per person, visited Dec 2018 Click photo to go to the web site.
	Chapel Down Winery in Kent. We had a tour of the winery but not the vineyard due to very wet weather, however the view of the vineyard from the tasting room ticked the box. Chapel Down is a large winery in Kent and there were many people on the tour (approx.30). I was impressed with Jane who ran the tour, there were no question she could not answer about how they made wine and the wine industry in general. The explanation of making sparkling wine was a highlight and mirrored my method. Book well ahead as they sell out of the tour. They have a nice restaurant and shop selling their wines plus local products and a few Australian wines! Tour costs £15 per person, visited Dec 2018 Click photo to go to the web site.