This is the time of year when the more organised among us begin to plan our summer holidays. Others simply dream about going somewhere warm. Either way, our minds turn to travelling to the sun and these days our holiday often includes a visit to a winery.
Wine tourism has been going through a boom period for the last decade or more. According to the Global Wine Tourism Report 2025, assembled by Geisenheim University in Germany last year, it is in many areas the key driver in regional development, strengthening rural communities and economies. Two-thirds of wineries report wine tourism as profitable, accounting for an average of 25 per cent of total income. Visitors are interested primarily in education, sustainability and gastronomy.
What can you expect on your visit? It depends on the winery. For some it can simply mean tasting a wine on an upturned barrel in a shed with the owner. Or it can include dinner in a Michelin-starred restaurant and a stay in a five-star Frank O Gehry hotel in the winery, as available from Marqués de Riscal in Rioja in Spain. Most visits lie somewhere in between.
It seems mandatory to do a tasting, which means you will need a dedicated driver. Some visits include the option of tours of the winery and often the vineyard too. Many will offer regular tours for large groups, which can be interesting, while others may be more personal, with just the winemaker. Most will charge for a tasting or visit. Some have restaurants attached, allowing you to enjoy the wines over a meal – the best way to appreciate wine. Many wineries are located by rivers. A trip along the Rhine, the Danube, the Douro or Lake Garda, can be a very relaxing way to discover new wine regions while enjoying the views, which are often quite spectacular.
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Wine producers like tourism because they can sell direct to the customer, cutting out the middle man. They would like to put you on their mail order list, although shipping to Ireland can be problematic. Often the most interesting part is hearing their story. A visitor gets to learn more about the wine, the region, its history, and the people behind the wine.
If you can’t wait until summer, you could do a visit closer to home – both Wicklow Way Wines (wicklowwaywines.ie), which makes fruit wines, and Viking Irish Drinks (vikingirishdrinks.com), which makes wine and cider, offer tours here in Ireland.
