Our favourite wine destinations

When The Sunday Times Travel asked us to do a piece on our favourite wine destinations, our first thought was: hope they’re going to give us lots of space.

As it happened, they cruelly made us choose only six – three each.

Peter plumped for Chile (Casablanca Valley), Rioja (Haro-Laguardia) and Bordeaux, while Susie chose Tasmania, Kent and Santorini.

We wanted to choose things beyond the obvious options (South Africa, Burgundy, Alsace etc). And also destinations that were personally important to us (e.g. Peter used to live in Chile, we went on a recent anniversary to Santorini, and we’ve just written a book about English wine).

We didn’t shy away from giving luxury options, for those who want to blow the budget with a helicopter ride or cliffside caldera hotel. But equally we mixed it up with more fun, off-beat, accessible ideas.

But somehow, we managed to mention things like peep shows, wine fights, hot air balloons, edible flowers, Tasmanian Devils and a helter-skelter.

Thanks to all those who helped us with research. We could, of course, have chosen so many more than this, and included far more options in each destination, but the space and word restrictions (not to mention the sub-editors) were punishing. Please feel free to suggest your own favourites via social media!

We can’t reproduce the piece in full here due to paywall restrictions but the image below gives an idea of how it looked on the page. Times subscribers can click on the following link to access the piece: Susie & Peter on wine travel in The Sunday Times Travel.

[Susie & Peter’s piece on wine travel in The Sunday Times Travel appeared in the 7 April 2019 edition]