Chianti — the name says ‘wine’. A mere 300 square km (115 square mi), in the center of Tuscany between Siena and Florence, Chianti overlooks the Elsa Valley. Hilly, the terrain varies from green forests to stony meadowland. The rows of wine grape vines share the land with olive groves and the occasional oak tree.
The [...]
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Midway between Milan and Rome, Tuscany is bordered on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Apennines mountain range on the east.
First inhabited by the Etruscans, in the Middle Ages and continuing through the Renaissance, Tuscany developed into a center of the Arts and Learning under the control of the Medici clan. And no [...]
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The Loire Valley, near Nantes in western France, is one of the most beautiful wine making areas in Europe. A narrow, but wide region following the Loire river, it meanders from Auvergne and the Massif Central mountains to the Atlantic coast.
Vines producing wine grapes existed here as far back as the Roman invasion into the [...]
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Languedoc-Roussillon, the largest wine producing region in the world, lies on the border of the Mediterranean sea, between the Rhone delta and Spain.
Fifty thousand vine growers (out of a population of 2.4 million) spread over an area of 27,400 square kilometers (10,500 square miles) swelter in the intense summers for the sake of producing over [...]
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Champagne is not just a sparkling wine, but the region from which the famous drink derives its name. The climate of the area is cooler than that of the southern French vineyards, making for a shorter growing season.
Almost a hundred miles (144km) northeast of Paris near the Belgian border, it’s usually divided into three parts [...]
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Nowhere in France is the terroir concept —a group of vineyards (or vines) from the same region that share similar soil and climate— more dearly held than Burgundy.
Located in central east France, the region’s 1.6 million inhabitants endure cold Continental winters, but enjoy warm summers.
A region covering 31,500 square kilometers (over 12,000 square miles), Burgundy [...]
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