You Should Choose An Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tour
Are you thinking about your next luxury vacation? Our resident wine expert, Sam McCathie, has rounded up five reasons why you should treat yourself to a place on one of our indulgent Arblaster & Clarke wine tours or champagne weekends. Are you looking for business translation services? Contact Translation Services UK
1) Travel in the company of esteemed experts, writers and Masters of Wine. We have the largest group of wine experts of any wine tour operator and many of them have been escorting our popular tours for over 20 years now. The relationships we have built with them means that you are travelling with people we consider family, and we are proud to have them both representing us and showcasing their passion and expertise in such fantastic ways.
2) Enjoy our tours alongside like-minded travellers. Our wine guides go above and beyond to ensure everyone within the group is included and, with many single people choosing to travel with Arblaster & Clarke, inclusivity is a priority. All of our guests experience something special with us, regardless of their personal level of knowledge, and many life-long friendships have blossomed on our tours.
3) Enjoy exclusive access that you won’t find elsewhere. Our coveted 30-year-old black book both enables us to open doors to experiences that are not otherwise available to the public and to arrange visits to private wineries that don’t export to the UK. We also regularly arrange for the winemakers themselves – or for a family member of the wine estate itself – to be present when we arrive for that extra special and personal touch.
4) Bespoke wine tours and champagne weekends created by experts. You won’t find the tours offered by Arblaster & Clarke anywhere else because we don’t buy products from tourist boards or travel agents. Our vacations are designed from scratch by experienced wine travel experts, which ensures that each tour is completely unique to us and offers a deeply considered, personal experience.
5) Let us take the driver’s seat. One of the most difficult aspects of becoming fully immersed in a wine tour is having to assign someone to the role of designated driver. With our tours, we provide comfortably chauffeured coaches or mini-vans… and sometimes even 4x4s if the winery we’re visiting is particularly remote.
White Wine Destinations
Here’s something that shouldn’t surprise you: we absolutely adore a crisp glass of white wine: the acidity of a young Chardonnay; the greenness of a Sauvignon; the syrupy tang of Riesling. Why shouldn’t this surprise you? Because at Arblaster & Clarke we spend our days either touring – or planning tours around – the world’s best regions for wine holidays.
Today we want to focus on our favourite spots for white wine aficionados. Generally these grapes do well in cooler climates as they need less heat to ripen. Which brings us to our first white wine destination…
Switzerland
More than half of the grapes in this mountainous country are white, meaning there are some spectacular varieties to choose from, many of which are rare in the international market.
Visit: Domaine Bovy in the UNESCO World Heritage region of Lavaux to sample some of its award-winning dry Chasselas.
Australia
The country which drinks the highest percentage of white wine in the world (as a proportion of their overall wine consumption, that is) is justifiably known for having perfected many of its own white vintages.
Visit: Glaetzer-Dixon winery, Tasmania. Vintner Nick Glaetzer was named Young Winemaker of the Year in 2011. His Riesling oozes complexity, and was created after careful instruction from expert vintners in Germany.
Spain
While Spain is more generally known for its reds, or tintos, the home of Cava also has a tremendous selection on offer from its green grape varieties – including some triumphant sherries.
Visit: Bodegas Hidalgo, in the seaside town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where you’ll find the world’s best-selling Manzanilla.
Canada
You don’t get much cooler than ice wine, a nectar made from frozen Vidal and Riesling varieties. Chardonnays also thrive in the fertile region of Ontario.
