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. Drinking a good wine delivers a real sense of place and character and brings a little slice of the vineyard into your own home.
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 massive wine connoisseur, 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.going with a small group of friends and a trust worthy guide will help you appreciate wine even more.
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.if you head down into the valley of Rio Ebro your right amongst the wine production are in La Rioja where a combination of wine tasting and walks and meals can be enjoyed.The local food comprises of seafood from the northern coast and meats from the plains to the south of Rioja.sommeliers serve up each course with a different wine to compliment 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.If your a wine lover and enjoy active holidays then La Rioja is the perfect place to go.you can experience the lifestyle behind the wines and enjoy the history of the region and culture. 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.
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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. wines are more flavoursome and interesting. it can be difficult for wine drinkers to know the true value of 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. Put simply, a bottle reduced from £7.99 to £3.wines are more likely to be worth £3.99.the first place of 99.
retails brands use the policy of marking up and then mark down. customers presume they are getting quality wine at great prices. Confused? the general idea is.
the majority of the wine market is obsessed with the £3.99 price bracket.the cheap price to customers affects the ways the suppliers are producing their wines.
consumers really know what is going on but they just carry on doing it. this leads to the wine trade not havng any money.
Spiret’s insight provides us with a depressingly cynical view of the way wine is both sold by the big retailers and supplied by the big wine brands. it gives the impression that big retailers view their customers to be lazy and ignorant.
In many ways Spiret was simply highlighting the types of marketing practices that are in play in many industries and it would be unfair to single out the wine trade as unique in using such tactics.
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.
there is no end to this type of fraudulent marketing.
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.
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