The Ultimate Wine Guide

Like us, we know you appreciate delicious food and fine wines.at the end of the week there is nothing better than chilling with a nice glass of wine and great food.  It’s the perfect way to unwind. indulging yourself with a great bottle of wine brings a little bit of the vineyard to your table.

First hand experience of La Rioja

Imagine how much more your appreciation would be enhanced if you could experience the sights, sounds and flavours of your favourite wine region first hand.  You don’t have to be a diehard wine enthusiast, just a fan!   There are dozens of wine tasting holiday packages available, ranging from the commercial tourist treks that  whisk you  through the terroir on an air-conditioned coach to the more intimate walking holidays that give you the space and time to walk through a wine region, drinking in the atmosphere and sampling the local food as well as tasting the wines.

La Rioja

We think an active holiday for wine buffs is best done at your own pace.  For a truly personal holiday, we like companies that offers tailor made packages to the smaller, beautiful and often underappreciated regions of Spain, such as La Rioja for example.   Travelling with a small group and an experienced local guide gives you the intimate insight that will improve your appreciation of the wine you drink.

Why La Rioja

The gateway to La Rioja is Bilbao, famous for Frank Gehry’s titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum and the magnificent Mirador de Tolono is less than an hour away with magnificent views across the wine growing region.  Drop down into the valley of the Rio Ebro and you’re in the heart of the wine production in La Rioja where you can combine walks through the vineyards with exploring the stunning mountains and valleys and indulging in superb Basque meals at some of the region’s finest restaurants.  Riojan cuisine is a unique combination of seafood from the northern coast, meats from the plains to the south and vegetables from the fertile valley of La Rioja itself.each course of food is served with its own wine which is specifically selected to go with the food.

Visiting traditional wineries in the region can also give you an insight into how much love, care and attention goes into putting that bottle on your table.one the oldest wineries called Muga uses traditional methods in winemaking, using only oak barrels and casks.   La Rioja offers the perfect active holiday for wine lovers everywhere.  You can immerse yourself in the culture and history of the region and experience the lifestyle behind the wines. Packages of varying lengths can be booked, but if nine days walking in the countryside, even if it is to drink some superb wines, sound like too much effort there are shorter weekend options that take in the main attractions and deliver a more intensive, but equally rewarding, experience.

At Classic Wine Direct we’re pretty upfront about what we do – we can’t compete with supermarkets on price so we offer wines from off the beaten track instead. these wines tend to be more full of taste and better quality. However, it can be difficult for wine drinkers to understand the true value of a wine.

the chief executive for the wine trade confirmed many of the deals are a rip off.

The fact that a leading player in the wine business had admitted that consumers were being conned caused many a raised eyebrow.

Spiret confirmed that many of deals in retail supermarkets are not deals at all. simply, a bottle reduced from £7.99 to £3.99 is often worth only £3.the first place of 99.

retails brands use the policy of marking up and then mark down. The customer will then beleive he is getting a quality wine for a bargain price. Confused? thats what we think generally.

The industry beleives that the “mass market” wine drinker is obsessed by the £3.99 price point and this affects the way that retailers are selling us wine and the way that some suppliers are now producing their wines.

In Spiret’s mind ’Consumers know they are getting misled … they get used to it. At the end of the day, it just leads to the impoverishment of the wine trade”.

Spiret’s gives us an inside view of the true tricks in which wine is sold by the big retailers. it gives the impression that big retailers view their customers to be lazy and ignorant.

spiret was making us aware of the tricks of marketing wine.

Given that supermarkets represent two thirds of wine sales in the UK, these practices also have a direct effect on the public perception of the value of wine.

do they really get a bottle for £7.wine values range from £3.99.99 bottle then it follows that it will be much harder for the independent wine retailer to sell something whose real value is (and always was) £7.99.

this type of marketing leaves it open to all sorts of underhand practices.

However, if the political mood continues to be against discount selling for alcohol, it will be interesting to see how the big retailers find a real price for wines they have knowingly mis-sold for the last 10 years.