Saturday, March 16, 2013

Winerist - A Global Wine Travel Portal

We've always enjoyed visiting wineries when we traveled - whether the wineries were destinations in themselves, or when we wanted to find a winery in a unique location. WineCompass was basically the result of these travels. Over the years other wine related travel sites have emerged, many with more robust features, and understanding the limitations of our site, we readily use these alternatives to augment our travel planning. One of these is Winerist, a relatively new platform focusing on world travel that connects wine tourists with local experts, special accommodations, wineries, and tour guides. For each region, they publish a short wine making history; a map; suggested itineraries and tours; and guides on where to taste, stay, and eat. Plus many attractive photos that are an incentive along to start making travel plans.

The site currently provides information for 30 wine regions, with France (8 regions), Italy (4 regions), Chile (4 regions), Spain (2 regions), and South Africa (2 regions) having multiple regions represented. In North America, Winerist includes travel information for Napa and the Okanagan Valley - perfect timing for the bloggers attending the 2013 Wine Bloggers Conference.  And they've also included other popular regions such as  Mendoza, Barossa Valley, Dubrovnik-Dalmatia, Douro Valley, Tokaj, and Santorini. For the last two, I will be providing a short overview of the region's wine history and wineries in the coming months.

Besides self interest, I encourage you to check out Winerist; there's plenty of cool information like Bike & Wine in the Casablanca Valley or Cooking & Tasting in Santorini. Plus with the social aspect, you can contribute your own wine travel experiences. Cheers.

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