Grapes from the World’s Best Wine Regions
The best wine grapes grow between the 30th and 50th parallel in both the northern and southern hemispheres, though they can also be found growing in plenty of places you’d never expect. Fields of grapes are a wine lover’s dream, as there’s nothing like tasting some of the best wines you’d expect from a wine of the month club right where they’re made. Wine clubs can be a great way to expand your taste and appreciation of wine, but sipping a fine wine while staring at the very grape-strung hills from which is sprang is another experience all together. Here’s a run-down on some of the finest wine growing regions in the world.
Italy
This country is famous for its robust reds. In fact, if you find a Chianti offered through most wine clubs, chances are it will be Italian. That because Chianti, located between Sienna and Florence, has long earned its reputation as being one of the country’s finest regions for wine. Not only are the rolling hills ideal for grapes, but ideal for romance. Beautiful green, rolling hills scattered with old ruins and beautiful castles make a perfect wine trip romance for two.
France
One of the most famous wine producers on the globe, France lives and breathes wine like a cottage industry. Fairy-tale castles, churches dating to medieval times stretched between rolling hills earn the region its reputation for splendor, not to mention great wine. See the very rows of grapes that made your favorite variety in your wine of the month club. France lets you live and breathe the grape vines up close.
Northern California
You don’t need to go clear to the other side of the globe to experience some of the finest wines in the world. The fertile Napa and Sonoma Valleys offer a perfect mild climate that’s great for wine. Most of these are small, family owned wineries. In fact, you’ll find over 200 of them in the area. In a single afternoon, you can sample more wines than you’d get with an annual subscription to a wine of the month club. California sun was made to make wine.
South Africa
You might be surprised, but the wine country just northeast of Cape Town is the seventh largest wine producing region in the world thanks to an ideal climate that allows a perfect amount of sun. Most South African wineries specialize in white wines, usually chenin blanc. The region has created its own varieties of wine by crossing a variety of strains, creating some special creations that have become favorites of wine clubs. Give it a try, and see if your favorite wine of the month club has something South African on the menu.
