The land-locked country of Austria in Central Europe has borders with Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic. The country is known for its fine classical music, welcoming mountains, spectacular Lipizzaner horses, and filling cream cakes.

The London Olympics are around the corner and some of you reading this may just be in situ to enjoy them. If you are looking for activities other than sport whilst in England and happen to be a wine lover too, then don’t feel you have to hop over the English channel to satisfy your wine travel lust. You can stay right there in England and be in for a treat, even on an easy day trip from London.

A land of so many dreams, with its fairy-tale castles, hill-top towns and fabulous verdant landscape, Tuscany is also home to some of Italy’s very best red wines, based on the Sangiovese grape. This part of Italy is very much olive oil country too, with excellent cuisine, and a visit to Tuscany usually features high on any food and wine lover’s wish list.

To experience the Côte d’Or or ‘golden slope’ in all its glory, then fall is the time to go, just after harvest, when the leaves on the vines on the south-eastern facing vineyard slopes turn golden in the late afternoon sun. Yet for a wine lover, a visit to this heartland of Burgundy, a couple of hours southeast of Paris, is magical whenever you visit.

For a long time known simply as skiing wines, the best wines from Savoie deserve much greater recognition. After continued quality improvements in the wines over the past couple of decades, skiers coming to the French Alps should certainly consider adding on a day or two of vineyard visits in this beautiful French wine region in the foothills of the mountains.

The South-West of France is a huge area in wine terms, stretching from south-east of Bordeaux to Toulouse and on southwards to the Pyrenees and the border with Spain.  Criss-crossed by rivers such as the Dordogne, Garonne, Lot and Tarn, it has numerous valleys ideal for wine growing.  A visit requires some detailed planning, especially of where to be based, and depending how long you are going for, you may well want to consider two or three bases.

Loire Valley - Châteaux and Wines of all Styles and Colours

Wine Touring in Provence: not just for Celebrities

The majestic Rhône river that sweeps through Lyon en route to Avignon and down to the Mediterranean starts as a trickle up in the Swiss Alps. The river flows through spectacular scenery in the Swiss canton of Valais and disgorges itself into Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) before continuing on its way through France.