Travel Geeks

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The experts’ travel manual

Q // I’d like to visit a European winery to coincide with the harvest this autumn. Are there any tours you’d recommend?

Cross the Channel and you’ll encounter some of the world’s best-known vineyards, but it pays to go beyond the classic French wine regions of Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne. Corsica, for instance, has been making wine for millennia, and the vineyards are spectacular. Wine Paths can organise tours to meet the winemakers and taste their output; the most spectacular tour, by far, includes a flight over vineyards set on high slopes (the island has more than 20 peaks over 6,500ft). winepaths.com

Another lesser-known option is Switzerland, which is the best place to try Swiss wine, not least because the Swiss drink most of it — very little gets exported. Hire bikes in Chippis in Valais and cycle along the Rhône, stopping to taste wines as you go. There’s also the Valais Wine Museum, and the Caveau de Saillon, a restaurant with a wide selection of the region’s wines, including Fendant, made from local Chasselas grapes. museeduvin-valais.ch

The city of Porto, in northern Portugal, meanwhile, is the gateway to the Douro region.

This has long been the place where port is made, but there are really good unfortified Douro red wines, too. The easiest and most pleasurable way to visit the more interesting vineyards is to stay in the region itself. The Six Senses Douro Valley hotel can organise visits to the best-known quintas (estates) or a tour of lesser-known, small wineries. sixsenses.com

Alternatively, Vienna is a great option for wine-lovers as there are vineyards just outside the city. Better still are the city’s heurigen: old-fashioned taverns that serve local wines with hearty Austrian food. In the northern suburbs of

Strebersdorf or Stammersdorf, take the ‘little train’, the Heurigen Express, which is, in fact, a train-shaped vehicle that stops at lots of wine-focused spots, as well as the Beethoven Museum, two minutes from Mayer am Pfarrplatz — the composer’s former house, which is also a heurige. pfarrplatz.at

You don’t have to go abroad to enjoy the harvest, however. In Kent or Sussex, Jamie and Steph of Vine and Country Tours will pick you up from your accommodation (or the train station) and show you the vineyards on a bespoke tour, pausing for a delicious feast they make from local ingredients. They work with some of England’s best wine producers, including Gusbourne, Wiston Estate and Simpsons, so this is a lovely way to discover our finest wines. vineandcountrytours.co.uk

NINA CAPLAN

ABOVE: A winemaker picks grapes for the harvest, which generally begins at the start of autumn