As stated before, one of “core four” in travel is wine.  Our continued quest for learning about wine and how it connects with the people, culture and food does not just include the well-known areas but also smaller, more local wine regions that, while they may not be as popular, they are nonetheless just as fascinating and delicious.

There are a couple of true standouts over the years that really captured our philosophy.  The first is Crete.  Not exactly an area that screams wine in our book.  We connected with Sommelier Anna Maria from Chania Wine Tours for a hosted farm to table lunch at the Dourakis Winery.  Perfect weather, a charming host filled with knowledge of Cretan wines, a beautiful vineyard and the merging of wine and food all led to a fantastic day.  The wines were wide ranging and Anna Maria paired them so beautifully with local cuisine.  This included our first exposure to orange wine (skin fermented white wine).  We now look for certain Greek wines at home, although it is challenging to find wines from Crete.  If you should find yourself in Crete, we strongly recommend Chania Wine Tours. You will not be disappointed.

Another standout is Sicily.  While Italy is certainly known for its wine, Sicily is not the wine region that comes to mind first, but it has so much to offer especially in its big bold reds enhanced by the volcanic soil of Mount Etna.  We toured Terrazze Dell’Etna estate on the hillside of Mount Etna and was treated to not only a full deep dive into Sicilian wines like Rosato and Norello Mascalese, but also lunch served in the vineyard.  Our meal was prepared with all local ingredients from their estate and the neighboring farms.  The combination of tastes of the local cuisine and wine was magic.  Again, proving the point “what grows together goes together.”

One truly off-beat wine region was Tenerife in the Canary Islands.  We toured the island seeing many of the sites including Mount Tiede before moving into the wine culture and vineyards on this small island.  When touring the island, you notice how visually stunning the landscape is and at times it looks like the surface of the moon in places (in fact many films have been shot here for that reason).   To imagine vineyards of grapes growing here does not seem logical.  Where there is a will there is a way producing dry crisp fresh whites and lighter fruity reds.  Days like this when we can truly connect with the culture of a locale through wine and food keep us traveling and exploring.

Hopefully, these two wine related travel posts give you inspiration to find something to connect you throughout your travels, to learn from and experience that one thing, but in so many different ways based on where you are and the traditions and tastes of that region or location. Now go find an experience.