London - As summer turns to autumn in the northern hemisphere, harvest time comes around. And across Europe that means grapes.
Wine tour specialist Arblaster & Clarke (winetours.co.uk) offers everything from champagne weekends to holidays exploring off-the-beaten track wine destinations such as Georgia and Turkey.
Alternatively, go it alone, staying in luxury wine hotels and chateaux. In Spain’s Rioja region, Hotel Viura (hotelviura.com) is a collection of higgledy-piggledy glass and concrete blocks designed to resemble a bunch of grapes, offering two-hour quad-bike tours of some of the area’s 700 bodegas for e170 (R2 568) per person. In France, just outside Bordeaux you can visit the Smith Haut Lafitte winery before indulging in a vinotherapy treatment at the luxurious Les Sources des Caudalie (sources-caudalie. com) hotel next door; rooms from e224 (R3 384) excluding breakfast.
Italy pedal power
In the hills of Mont Ventoux, near Avignon, Hotel Crillon le Brave (crillonlebrave.com) has cycling routes that take you through the vineyards of Château Valcombe and Château Pesquie on electric bikes – or a tandem. Double rooms start from e364 (R5 498) including two half-days’ bike rental.
Saddle skedaddle
The eight-day guided trip to Piedmont (skedaddle.co.uk) passes through the vineyards of Italy and Portugal. Scheduled for September 19 to 26, the route goes through medieval hamlets and the rolling landscape of this World Heritage-listed region. It passes through the village of Barolo to visit WiMu wine museum. From £1 210 (R18 278) per person including half-board accommodation, transfers and bike hire but excluding flights.
High flier
The Grand Hotel Continental (niquesahotels.com), a 17th-century palazzo in Siena, has a balloon ride over Tuscany’s vine-carpeted hills, plus a private wine tasting. The experience costs €366 (R5 529) while a double room in September or October costs from €375 (R5 665) B&B, based on a three-night stay.
Journey to the source
Travel from Porto to the Douro Valley via the Quinta de la Rosa, where they still tread the grapes by foot, with Inntravel’s (inntravel.co. uk) self-guided walking holiday. In late September the harvest is in full swing. It costs from £478 (R9 850) per person, including four nights’ B&B, two dinners but excluding flights.
Bottle of Britain’s finest
At the Three Choirs Vineyards (three-choirs-vineyards.co.uk) in Gloucestershire, take a break for two nights for two from £240 (R3 625) a night, including a bottle of sparkling wine, two tickets for a winery tour and tasting, dinner in the Vineyard restaurant and breakfast. The Independent