Book Authentic Wine Tourism Experiences in Europe with Winedering
- Maria DiCicco
- Apr 30
- 7 min read
Updated: May 1
You know that feeling you get when your local wine distributor tells you all about the amazing time he had in Rioja, the one where he visited 15 wineries, had picnics in the vineyards and sampled local delicacies for four days straight? I don't know about you, but when I hear these stories, I swoon.
I'm the type of gal who lurks in wine stores browsing the shelves like they were bookshelves full of treasures, studying the labels, reading the back stories, and chatting up the store workers to exchange tales.
It's an exciting industry - wine tourism - and one I'm quite passionate about. If you've been on my site before, it may be quite apparent that the top three things I love most in life (aside from my family and darling daughter of course) are food, wine and travel.
So it makes sense that whenever I go anywhere (literally anywhere, even if it isn't known as a wine region), I will seek out wine tourism adventures.
In this article I share with you how the wine industry is evolving - how online booking and pre-booked experiences are a necessity, especially in Europe. You'll learn how to book a wine tour in Europe, and how to find the most authentic wine tourism experiences in Europe.
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Short on Time?Viator and GetYourGuide are trusted booking platforms for most tours around the world, but with the wine industry they can often lack authenticity - the vineyards they represent are too big for their own britches. To find truly tremendous wine tours in Europe, I have discovered a platform called Winedering. Winedering offers next level experiences like:
Learn how to book these extraordinary experiences by skipping to the end, or read more to learn the landscape of wine tourism and how Winedering is making a splash in the industry. |
How We Book Wine Tasting Tours in Europe is Changing
Booking wine tours in Europe isn't like in the United States. You typically can't just show up and ask for a wine tour like you might in Napa or Willamette Valley. Instead, wine tours have to be arranged well in advance, typically over the phone, email or online.
As a travel blogger I'd been feeling that the wine industry wasn't well represented on Viator or GetYourGuide, and that the family-run wineries, the small mom and pop experiences weren't showing up to book tours, and only the big boys in the game would offer the ability to book online through these aggregate type search tools.
It is my job to promote and share the authentic experiences with my readers, but if it isn't easy for them to book - they just won't. And then they miss out on amazing experiences.
For me, I'm not swayed - I'll spend days scouring Google Maps, researching small wineries, reading reviews, looking at photos, and seeing if they offer tours. Then, the booking process involves overseas phone calls or emails I've had to translate using Google Translate. Many would go unanswered, and some wouldn't work out.
In short - it is a tedious process - one that most folks won't go through just to book a wine tour.
So when Winedering crossed my radar, I knew they were going to be a game changer.
What if you could browse the family wineries of Europe with photos, reviews, price points and even times and dates - all in one booking platform? It would remove the manual research challenges I face. You could sift through the noise and the big chain wineries and find the hidden gem opportunities you are really wanting.
The Fear of Booking Wine Tours Online
I know that many travelers won't book tours online if they don't see reviews, or if they haven't heard of the outfit before. They'll Google things like "is winedering legit?" or "winedering reviews" to make themselves comfortable with giving away money to a lesser known online source.
Ya'll, stop second guessing. Find the exceptional wine tourism experiences you are looking for.
Start your search on Winedering.
About Winedering
Winedering has been in business since 2016 - they aren't new - and they've had some impressive growth, becoming the most visited wine tourism marketplace in Italy. They've got over 4,000 suppliers and more than 5300+ curated wine tourism experiences waiting for you - all over Europe.
They are led by a passionate and engaged team, including co-founder Stefano Tulli, whom I have had to pleasure of working with myself.
If you are seeking a new platform to book your wine tours with, then hands-down, Winedering is it.
I no longer have to search to the ends of the internet to find a good tour - I just start my searches on Winedering.com, and the process is much simpler.
It is the one stop platform to book wine tours, vineyard lunches, even overnight stays or tastings as simple as a bar with tapas and a wine flight. It's all there, and so easy to use.
Some of the features on the Winedering website that I love:
Searching is simple
Most tours offer free cancellation
Calendar and time slot booking tools allow you to work within your itinerary
Map searches really hone in on an area or driving route, making trip planning even easier
The Wine Experiences We Want vs. What We Typically Get
Many years ago, visiting Uruguay as a one day cruise ship stop, I hired a South African man who had a little wine tourism company. He arranged the whole day - I still can't believe the luck I had in finding him.
He drove us around to several wineries where we had the most homespun experiences - we sat in the living room of one vintners home as if we were house guests, trying his wine, sampling flavors from his farm.
We followed this with a lunch in the vineyards at the next winery, where tuxedoed waiters served us each wine tasting as a pairing with different courses.
Then there's a favorite winery of mine near our home in Spain, a truly family-run experience where my daughter and the vintners kids are picking up rocks in the soil to paint and running around with a soccer ball in and out of the vine rows.
All this while my husband and I chat with the owners using dos lenguas (two languages), laughing about kids, musing about wine, and marveling at the beauty of snacking in the yard at this man's house.
We visited once during harvest time, and I got to watch the whole process, see the bees buzzing around the grapes as some of them dried in the field, and my daughter sampled some 'mosto' the red grape juice straight from the presser.
These are the types of experiences you can't get from Viator or GetYourGuide. Instead, typically the larger wineries hosted on those platforms will do massive 25-50 people tours through their modern facilities, shuffled through like cattle with the same basic story of how the wine is produced. It's interesting, but I've done that a million times.
I want personal. Different. I want to see the one guy that owns the winery, checks the grapes for pesticides, loses sleep because it's harvest day, and he bottles it too. The winery where the daughter designs the labels, the son does the marketing, and papa's cousin made the pecorino from his sheep.
I want to go somewhere where we start as strangers, leave as friends. Where I feel part of the family.
These are the places and experiences that leave you with lasting memories (and hopefully a case full of wine in the trunk of your rental car).
Pro Tip: If you plan to purchase wine when you visit wineries, look into getting a wine suitcase from VinGardeValise. They have multiple sizes to choose from to safeguard your bottles for the journey home. Check it out and get 20% off with my code, ALWAYS20. |
What You Get From Your Winedering Tour
Winedering doesn't promote the big guys, or the little fish in the sea either. They don't just promote wineries to promote wineries. They curate their choices.
Take your wine tourism to the next level with:
E-bike tours through the vineyard
Walks and hikes through rolling vine lands
Picnics between the vines
Al fresco lunches with the vintner's family
Historic cellar tours
Cheese and food pairings
Traditional and non-traditional wine tastings - from natural wines to world's top varietals
It's these experiences you'll find on Winedering.
And you might hear the word 'curate' above and think 'expensive'. Not so fast. Tours and tastings range from 10 euros to 50 euros and beyond, depending on the offering. Exclusive, private tours don't need to break the bank.
Who Am I? Why Do I Care So Much?
I am a traveler, like you, looking for a solution to a wine industry problem. It's HARD to source and book a good winery. It takes days and sometimes even weeks to find the perfect place that caters to family, offers food pairings, or offers unique experiences.
I'm happy to have found a new resource for booking wine tours and tastings in Europe. Winedering is offering a broader search net with a more niche micro-focus, and it's really a gamechanger for me. Maybe it will be for you, too.
Skipped to the End?Here's How to Book Wine Tours in EuropeThe Old WayDeep Google searches, map searches, scouring reviews and photos, cross-referencing on Tripadvisor, and eventually emailing an inquiry (using Google Translate first) that may or may not get answered. Occasionally, a larger vineyard will offer a booking tool online, or you'll have to phone in your request, which can be daunting and even sometimes costly from overseas. Now, we simplify. The Better Way
It's just as simple as any other program, and it's reliable, affordable and unique. Go for bold and give it a try. |
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