if the good life If it were an image, for many it would include a glass of wine. Aware of the pleasure of staying where what is drunk is taken care of, the wine experience hotels and resorts live a new spring willing to be essentials on our wish lists.
Whatever the season, come rain or shine, any retreat is a lot more heavenly if we can enjoy a interesting wine list of a landscape of vineyards, of corners where you can enjoy the crickets while we uncork another bottle… Let's take a look at those elements that make some of the most desirable ones unique wine hotels of Europe.
Palacio Ludovice Wine Experience Hotel, Lisbon.
1 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
Let's go to the essentials. because one fantastic location it raises the potency of our experience many degrees. Or isn't it a luxury to go shopping the hectic neighborhood of Chiado and drink, afterwards –already barefoot and in silence– some wines in the Ludovice Palace of Lisbon ? what do you prefer to drink red, white, sparkling or rosé wine?
Tio Pepe Winery Hotel, Jerez.
2 URBAN HOTEL OR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE VINEYARD?
Let's see, let's see... The two options they promise and everything depends on your vital needs at this precise moment, because the reality is that there is such a variety among the Wine Experience Hotels –and that is what this article deals with a bit– that there really is one for each moment.
If the body asks you for roots and tradition, great wineries of the South finally they are encouraged to open hotels within their own enclosures: the Hotel Tio Pepe de Jerez is located in the cellar itself and it is a dream, in addition to the world's first sherry hotel Its views over the Alcázar and the Cathedral, from your roof they will not leave you indifferent. Is there perhaps a better plan than having a sherry cocktail here while you enjoy spring?
Les Sources de Caudalie, France.
3 CLOSING THE CIRCLE
And since you dive in wine culture of a place, do it with the five senses. Many of these hotels have spa treatments based on natural products extracted from the grape seed –its properties are infinite–, or infinity pools from which to lose sight in a sea of vineyards. One of the most popular and famous spas is Les Sources de Caudalie, in the vineyards of Château Smith Haut Lafitte, in the heart of Bordeaux.
4 ALL MICHELIN STARS
What would wine be without harmonizing it with an exquisite bite, because to live a complete oenological experience, the hotel restaurant(s) They compete to be up to date and have behind their stoves the protagonists of the best haute cuisine that compete every year the Michelin stars and the Soles Repsol. Take the example of the impressive Refectory , that restaurant we all want to go to Retuerta Abbey Le Domaine, on the banks of the Douro. A luxury to enjoy the cuisine of the Chef Marc Segarra.
The sea of vineyards of Abadía Retuerta LeDomaine.
5 ‘BESPOKE’ EXPERIENCES AROUND WINE
Starting by the incomparable tasting also from Abadía Retuerta Le Domaine, with its selection of wines from the 30 wineries that make up the project Large Payments of Spain, to other experiences that go from dinner to breakfast or lunch in the vineyard itself. They themselves, for example, have created together with the Hotel & Spa Arzuaga and the restaurant Ambivium , from Pago de Carraovejas, the project N-122 Duero Valley to join forces and sublimate the luxury experience: from concerts between the vines to events around the vineyard depending on the time of year. But also the Wine Experience Hotels treasure unique collections of ancient drinking vessels and even beds made from barrels…
Wineries of the Heirs of the Marquis of Riscal.
6 BEAUTY AND ARCHITECTURE TO EMBRACE THE CUP
There are wonderful hotels that are in themselves a work of art. The unmistakable and unique profile of the Hotel Marques de Riscal , architect's masterpiece Frank O. Gehry, and whose avant-garde looks like something out of a futuristic movie. Next to it the old cellar designed in 1858 by the architect Ricardo Bellsola, between the vineyards and the medieval village of The blind, in the Rioja Alavesa.
7 FAMILY BUSINESS? MUCH MORE PERSONAL!
There are families linked to the wineries for many generations. Families whose love for wine has translated, over the centuries, into the pampering and care of their farms that today they share with the luckiest travelers. Among the most beautiful places is the family hotel Tasca d'Almerita, The mythical Capofaro , in Messina, Sicily, one of those Relais & Châteaux, next to volcanic vineyards and sea views, where not stop refilling the cup with his Malvasia delle Lipari.
Hotel Yeatman, in Porto.
8 VERY TOPS BARS
And of course, what would these hotels be without high bars, corners where you can have the pleasure of drinking very well surrounded by beauty and art. That's why, in the acclaim The Yeatman, in Porto, they not only have the largest collection of Portuguese wines in the world but its bar, Dick's Bar, invites you to dive into an extensive list of port wines aged in wood and wines from Vintage Port that you can order by the glass or by the bottle.
9 BLEND IN WITH THE ENVIRONMENT
Each of these temples of good drinking has its own personality. It is not the same to be in a classic french chateau than in a big resort or stay and experience the immersion in a “maison vigneronne”: the winegrower's house. This is the case of Castigno Chateau & Village , an organic wine town where “ trust in loving hands to rest and rejuvenate.
In our islands, few experiences offer calm and such a pleasant sensation as entering in the Menorcan ode that is Torralbenc: materials, earth colors, silence, gastronomy, spaces... they breathe that vital agrotourism project respectful of the environment.
Hotel Torralbenc, Menorca.
10 ZERO KILOMETER PRODUCTS
And this from the land to the table that inspires many of our favorite Wine Experience Hotels also takes us to the Alentejo, because Herdade da Malhadinha Nova, in addition to its winery, its rooms and dream houses and its fabulous themed weekends, She cooks for her guests with vegetables and meat from her own farm. Plus, it's packed with charming corners where to drink some family wines and enjoy the stars of the alentejo sky.