Wine tasting holidays: Cruise your way through wine tasting regions
Our top boating recommendations for sampling good wine
Vineyards dot our cruising routes in France, offering wine-tasting opportunities at what seems like every turn. Favourites include Homps, a thriving wine-producing village where you’ll even find an exhibit of wines at the tourism office, and Ventenac, home to a wine museum. Opportunities to tour vineyards are as plentiful as the wines they offer. The regional wines and beers, and even cognac and malt whisky, taste so much better when sampled in their place of origin…
Wine tasting boating holiday destinations in France and Italy
Burgundy: Nivernais & Loire, France
Near the lively town of Auxerre you can taste the dry, aromatic Chablis wine. While, on the Canal Latéral à la Loire you’ll find the hilltop village of Sancerre and it’s famous vineyard. Learn all about the region’s wines at the Maison des Sancerre, a 15th century house dedicated to the art of wine-making. On the opposite bank of the Loire to Sancerre sit the Pouilly vineyards, home to the universally known Pouilly-Fume.
Aquitaine, France
Escape to Aquitaine and cruise through landscapes of cornfields, orchards and vine-clad hillsides. Here you’ll enjoy world-famous wines from the nearby Bordeaux vineyards. Wine lovers will enjoy free wine tastings offered at the Cave of Buzet, a tasty local wine. Take also some time to delight the Armagnac, a delightful liquor produced near Condom.
Burgundy: Franche-Comté, France
Go in search of Burgundy’s legendary wines in the Franche-Comté region. Cruise through the Côte de Beaune’s premier cru vineyards, home to names such as Pommard, Chasagne-Montrachet, Rully and Mercurey. Stops near Chagny, Châlon-sur-Saône or Mâcon to discover the vineyards and taste some of the great wines! The Rully wine is pairing perfectly with local cheeses!
Canal du Midi, France
Languedoc-Roussillon is the world’s largest wine-producing region and your cruise from Homps via Carcassonne will take you past the famous Minervois and Corbieres vineyards. All along the canal you will find local producer such the Domaine de Guery winery in Capestang or Les Vignerons de Paraza. Some of them are also offering wine-tasting like the Wine Cave of Ventenac. For a truly unforgettable wine-tasting adventure however, escape the heat and burrow down deep beneath the Corbière massif…
Venice & Friuli, Italy
The Fruili province is home to the DOCs of the Collio region and is dominated by white wine production. Collio wine is typically full-bodied and rich and made as a varietal or blend of grapes including Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. Don’t forget to bring home a large selection of bottles of the famous Collio, which can be purchased at the wine yard close to our Precenicco base. In Venice, the sumptuous food and gastronomy delights can be washed down with a glass of the beautiful sparkling Prosecco local to this region.
Looking for more holiday inspiration?
Take a look at all our inspiration pages to see what else you could discover on your Emerald Star holiday.