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The top 10 wine destinations to visit in 2013

France is not going to be happy. Remember our ‘5 best wine destinations’ post a few months back?  Well, France – often regarded as one of the best wine producers in the world – was excluded from that TripAdvisor list.  And now they’ve been snubbed again, this time by Wine Enthusiast, who have declared the following as the top 10 wine destinations to visit in 2013: 1. Rioja, Spain 2. Danube, Austria 3. North & South Forks of Long Island, New York 4. Stellenbosch, South Africa 5. Monterey County, California 6. Vale dos Vinhedos, Brazil 7. Willamette Valley, Oregon 8. Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia 9. Douro Valley, Portugal 10. Puglia, Italy

Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.

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10 Comments

  1. As said, France may be not happy about its better known vineyards but what to say about the largest white wine vineyards with the biggest concentration of traditional distilleries producing one of the most famous drink in the world : cognac and its Grande Champagne cru…
    hopefully its takes up to 40 years to elaborate the best, they may wait for few more years to be in this top 10

  2. I am a surprised that Tuscany is not on the list! I think Tuscan wines are really good, not only the most famous such as Brunello and Ornellaia but there are so many small producers that offer excellent wines that you can enjoy while watching amazing sceneries. I personally love Cupole a red wine produced by Tenuta di Trinoro near Sarteano (SI) and Desiderio produced by Avignonesi near Cortona (AR).

  3. Number 11: Lanzarote, where the vines grow in volcanic ash and camels help with the harvest ;-D. A seriously great destination with fantastic white wines and quality restaurants.

  4. And while you’re visiting Stellenbosch in South Africa you can pop across to Franschhoek (the ‘French corner’), just a few minutes away, and visit that equally beautiful valley with it’s award-winning restaurants and French theme.

  5. How on earth could you forget to mention at least one of Chile’s “zillion” valley’s and luxury vineyard resorts?

  6. Brazil’s Vale dos Vinhedos? Is that a joke… right? It is… right? Checking on “Wine Spectator”… to name one, I haven’t found just TWO Brazilian wine that score 84 points (which by the way, is a just lousy score!). List rates with 84 points… Casa Valduga’s Brut Brazil 130 and Vinícola Miolo’s Quinta do Seival Fronteira. And that’s it. Then, six specific wines achieve 83 points, which is indeed a very low number compared to what Argentinean but especially Chilean wines have achieved: six wines with the top and maximum 96 points score (!) Now… and what about the vineyard luxury resorts today offered in the Central Valleys of Chile (I could mention at least half a dozen or more)? Hmmm… who was the one in charge of this list? Man… you got to do your homework properly before sending out this totally wrong lists! Sure you need to!

  7. I am very happy that my italian region Puglia is listed as a top wine destination for 2013! I live where Primitivo and Negroamaro vineyards are and I can say for sure that here there are several good wineries with great wines! And, the landscape is very beautiful: you have the countryside with vineyards and ancient olive trees and in ten kilometers you are on some of the best beaches of all Italy. A place which is still undiscovered: it means a place real, still real.

  8. i think it is not fair enough for France … i have visited many wineries there and tasted so many wines…so far the best production is there and breathtaking wineries especially in the south .
    i would like to add also Lebanon is producing very good wines in very nice locations … worth a visit and tasting !!

  9. Brazil in the list of wine destinations? really? And what about Argentina and Chile? Mendoza in Argentina has some of the best wines in the world, its Malbecs and Merlots are famous worldwide.

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