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Three unspoilt havens for oenophiles
For those who love a tipple or two in the sun, Alice Gråhns seeks out the best holidays for wine lovers.
Valpolicella: as seductive as Tuscany and home to some of Italy's finest wines
Just beyond the city gates of Verona in Italy lies the landscape of Valpolicella, characterised by a play of vineyards and traditional "marogne" dry-stone walls, says Lee Marshall in The Daily Telegraph. Its hilltop villages and historical villas are as seductive "as anything Tuscany has to offer".
Valpolicella is the homeland of Italy's spicy and dense amarone wine, which "is as far from a frisky, easy-quaffing wine like lambrusco as traditional balsamic vinegar is from its distant chip-shop cousin". The region also makes another red which takes the name from its birthplace: Valpolicella. With its "fresh, seductive morello cherry flavours", it is, unlike amarone, "not so rich as to test one's endurance".
The vineyards fall on either side of Valpolicella's dales, the ridges of which are perfect for walking and cycling, and the area is dotted with Romanesque monuments, "breathing the spirit of an era of simple faith and oneness with nature a spirit which, beneath the area's aristocratic veneer, is very Valpolicella".
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The Gard region in southern France has a vineyard on every hillside, but holidaymakers "pour into neighbouring Provence unaware that some of France's most remarkable sights are less than half an hour away by car", says Giles Milton in The Mail on Sunday. Uzs, once the capital of the district, is "such a gorgeous clich of France that it could have been knocked up by Hollywood".
The region is home to the Pont du Gard, a majestic and immaculately preserved Roman aqueduct, and the city of Nmes boasts an intact amphitheatre still used for bullfighting, and the Maison Carre, "the finest preserved temple to be found anywhere in the former empire".
A taste of classical times is also found at the Mas de Tourelles winery, run by two generations of the Durand family. The wine cellars reveal the ancient foundations already in use when Augustus was crowned emperor in Rome 2,000 years ago. Today, the wine-making procedure is much the same as it was then: sun-ripened grapes are crushed by foot before undergoing a final squeeze in a hammer-beam winepress. For the white wine Turriculae, the Durands have used a recipe from the Roman epicure Lucius Collumella, containing seawater, fenugreek and grape syrup. "It's delicious," says Milton.
Sonoma Valley is the lesser known of California's two major wine regions (the other being Napa Valley), but it's far more accessible from nearby San Francisco than its rival is. And it doesn't take long "to find a photo-worthy view" in the county where food is at the heart of everything, says Jaymi McCann in the Sunday Express.
The "gastronomic delights" on offer at the Farmhouse Inn, a homely "collection of buttery yellow barns nestling in a forest", include a perfectly cooked breakfast and "delicious but accessible dishes that are of an amazing high standard" in the Michelin-starred restaurant in the evening. Take a food tour in the city of Healdsburg and travellers can sample local wines, tapas and a West Coast version of meze. The terrace from local winery MacRostie is ideal for views across the valley and the perfect spot for sampling the area's chardonnay and pinot noir.
working wine estateHalf an hour from the Spanish borderin the south of France, ChteauCapitoul is a working wine estateabout to get a "serious facelift", saysCathy Hawker in the Evening Standard.Upon completion in 2019, it will have46 townhouses and villas priced from£388,000, fully furnished, and willoperate as a boutique hotel.
Oppositethe 200-acre estate is an entrance toMassif de Clappe, the Languedoc'slargest natural conservation area and"a hikers' and bikers' paradise". Athree-mile path leads to Gruissan, a"charming seaside spot" with an oldtown, modern marina, plenty of shopsand wide, sandy beaches.
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Alice grew up in Stockholm and studied at the University of the Arts London, where she gained a first-class BA in Journalism. She has written for several publications in Stockholm and London, and joined MoneyWeek in 2017.
Alice is now Consumer Editor at The Sun and covers everything from energy bills to Social Security.
