Chocolate shops and museums, Marzipan, chocolate ice cream, and wine

Where can you try and buy chocolates? 

Chocolate

Austria

Top of my wish list is the chocolate museum in Vienna, Austria. You can take in the chocolate in the daytime. Then go to a wine restaurant in the evening. I read about them last week. Their website is down now (Wed 10 May 2023). But websites and museums come and go seasonally, for updates or during change of ownership. So I shall keep my eyes open. By the  next time I plan to visit their country, and city, I hope the website and shop and tours will be back in business.

UK

Cadbury. So much to see. Home of the chocolate teapot. (You eat the chocolate tea pot. Don't put tea in it.)

USA

Hershey shop in New York. Not a museum, but so many types of chocolate to see.

Wine

Austria

In Vienna, in the evening, go to the Heirige, taverns which pop up at harvest time for you to try the new season's wine. 

Cyprus

Top of my memories is the wine museum in Cyprus. Lots of photos and images of wine production and storage through the ages. Wine tasting on the ground floor with the owner afterwards.

Germany

The Oktoberfest ends in October, and the name reflects the date in the early days. However, now it starts earlier to catch the tourist trade and better, warmer weather at the end of summer, and starts at the end of September. 

Hungary

Hungary has a marzipan museum, in Budapest, the capital city. The museum's name is the Szabo Marcipan Museum.

UK

The UK has many vineyards. Denbies is the largest in England. The visitor centre has a supermarket size shop. I took a tour up the hillside and could see how the sun on one mountainside created a different environment or terroir, as the French say, territory, creating a different type of wine. A good place to start. The indoor tour included wine bottles and cellars.  You can buy their sparkling wine online.

Spain

We arrived too late for lunch and too early for dinner in the grand restaurant. So we tried their snack service, which proved to be very good. I loved the big shop. Outside, are planted the huge numbers of vine types, all labelled, but to me looking more or less identical, were amazing. The museum makes a charge and is large so allow enough time to enjoy it all. 

Useful Websites

UK

https://www.denbies.co.uk/

https://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/

https://salcombedairy.co.uk/

SPAIN

https://vivancoculturadevino.es/en/foundation/vivanco-museum-of-wine-culture/

GERMANY

https://www.niederegger.de/en/cafe-niederegger/marzipan-museum/

The best vineyards to visit? And wineries? And wine and spirits museums?

Singapore Flag

Singapore Sling. 

Driving around Bulgaria recently we found entire villages where every garden grew grapes on pergolas visible along the high street (which Americans call main street).

Every wine producing country has its grapes, vineyards, wine producers, spirits and cocktails. 

Vineyards Versus Wineries

First, some poeple would like to know the difference between a vineyard and a winery. You could grow grapes in a vineyard, and sell them to somebody else because you cannot afford to spend a thousand pounds on a new giant oak wood barrel, and to wait three or more years for the wine to mature in the barrel and then the bottle. 

It can take three or four years to get a vine to produce grapes. Then, if you get great grapes and mature in in the barrel and the bottle, more years to produce a vintage. Some growers say they are planting vines and laying down wines for their grandchildren. 

You could use your own grapes to make wine, having both an outdoor vineyard and an indoor winery (factory), which makes for a great visitor attraction. Especially if you add on a shop and a restaurant serving local food and wines.

Some people buy in grapes from several vineyards and blend them to make a wine which is consistent in taste over the years. They don't grow their own grapes, but buy locally, or import from other countries. 

Europe: France, Italy, Spain, Greece

France is famous for Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Beaujolais nouveau and Alsace. 

Italy is popular for Prosecco and Asti. Asti. 

Spain is known for Sangria and Rioja. 

Portugal produces Port - and Mateus Rose. 

Holidaymakers will remember ouzo from Greece. 

Spirits and Cocktails

Spirits are high in alcohol, burn your throat and get you drunk quickly. So they are mixed with juices to make a longer drink. 

Singapore Sling

Singapore's special symbolic drink is the Singapore Sling. Amusingly alliterative. A pink drink. Yes, Singapore Sling, the drink of Singapore.The place to have it is in the Raffles Bar in the Raffles hotel. Singapore Airlines serves it on request but in Economy it is not as exciting as in the hotel.

UK's Union Jack.

 Britain produced Gin. Whisky is from Scotland and Ireland. Guinness from Ireland. 

England has many vineyards and award-winning wines. Name one. Nyetimber, which means new timber.

Russian and Eastern Europe

Hungary, once known for Bull's blood is now known for its sweet wine, Tokaji. (Prounounced toe - kai.)

Russia and Eastern Europe are known for vodka. 

America wins with bourbon. 

Chile, South Africa, and New Zealand are also important wine producers.    

Best Vineyards to Visit
Best vineyards to visit on a family holiday? In North America I would say California, for a theme park and supermarket atmosphere, best place to buy corkscrews, aprons, books.


UK
In Europe I rate the UK's Denbies, supermarket and indoor and outdoor tours. See both the grapes growing on the hills, one hillside in the shade and another in the sun, so you can instantly understand why two adjacent plots of land produce different wines.

In London you can take courses in wine at WSET and Berry Brothers & Rudd. You can also enjoy wine dinners at assorted clubs and wine bars.

Drive south to Denbies. Or drive North. Climate change has put the UK on the world's wineries maps.

I look for a place with a restaurant, a shop and a nearby restaurant and hotel. For me and the driver. Some UK hotels contain wine shops, such as The Old Bridge Hotel, Huntingdon, England has a revolving menu with matching wines and a wine shop.

Cellar Door has made a map of 200 wineries.

My husband Trevor Sharot is writing a book on wines. He has found 700 vineyards in the UK, 120 wineries. Around Britain, there are more in Wales, 22 vineyards. Drive north for the causeway to the mead producing area. On to Scotland to find whisky. On the ferry over to Ireland, and you can find Guinness; what's more numerous shop, selling nothing to do with wine, often have a bottle or two or more for sale in the shop or displayed in the window.

Southern UK is also known for cider, which you will find on the supermarket shelves in London.

France
From the UK we would drive to Paris. Through Normandy to the apple and pear region for wines and spirits. But the destination in mind is bound to be  Champagne in France. Champagne is Champagne.

However, having done Champagne region and Rheims many times, my next  must visit vineyard region area is Alsace because I just love sweet wines, white, rose and sparkling wines.


Flag of Spain

Then Rioja in north Spain which has a wine museum or two.  Shops stock everything from silk scarves to table napkins with grape patterns. If you find red wines full of tannins give you a headache, you can probably cope with Sangria, red wine, white wine, fruit, refreshing.


New Zealand flag

New Zealand's BYO
If you happen to be in South Africa or New Zealand and like wine, try their wineries. In New Zealand once you have fastened on a wine style or brand you like you can take your own bottle of wine to Bring Your Own (BYO) restaurants.

All over the world you can book wine tours at wineries or take a morning or full day or whole week wine tour.

Useful Websites
Worldwide
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-7227995/The-worlds-50-best-vineyards-2019-named-producer-Argentina-ranked-first.html?ito=link_share_article-factbox
UK
https://www.winecellardoor.co.uk/directory/map/
RUSSIA
https://www.mircorp.com/visit-cristall-vodka-museum-moscow-russia/

See my other posts on Alsace wines, vineyards, the Old Bridge Hotel.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Booking Wine and Cheese Events And Winery Tours, UK, USA, and souvenirs online worldwide

Photo by Kolforn from Wikipedia article on Denbies.

Approach to the Visitor Centre of Denbies Winery in the UK.  Picture from Wikipedia.

Wine barrels in Denbies Winery. Picture from Wikipedia.

Problem
What can you do off-season? The wineries are too busy to see you during harvest. Many tourist attractions are open for the summer season. So what can you do and where can you go autumn Americans say Fall), winter, and springtime?

Answers
Surprise, surprise, some wineries want visitors to come along and sign up for events all year.

UK
Denbies in Surrey, England, has entertainment for everyone, offers both indoor and outdoor tours (pay for a combined ticket), a large supermarket and a cafeteria downstairs beside the supermarket and a fine dining restaurant on the top floor. We drove down from London for a tour followed by lunch. We took an overseas visitor from Asia for a day's entertainment previously in October.

USA
California - drive north from San Francisco until you reach the winery region, several wineries have supermarket size shops, and assorted tours. Calculate driving times and book a tour. We drove along winery-hopping. However, we were just going with the flow and arrived too late for tours or the tours were fully booked.  If you are not driving, you can book a tour to the Napa Valley from San Francisco.
I was impressed by the number of souvenirs on offer, everything from corkscrews and aprons to books about wine, and wine diaries, label removers.

Plan now, or for next summer. The northern and summer hemispheres are different so somebody is running or booking tours somewhere. Denbies in Surrey, England, has events all year including wine and cheese making days, autumn marathon, Christmas. Sign up for their newsletter.

If you want to make friends with other wine enthusiasts, look for the wine tastings and dinners in restaurants and homes, on Meetup. If you don't see any near enough to your area, you can start your own.

Souvenirs
Wine
Olive Oil
Furniture made from barrels
Tee-shirts
Shirts and blouses and ties with vine themes
Paper napkins and tableware with wine themes
Posters about wine and wine region maps
Grape bunch theme clothes, jewellery, metal tableware (From Israeli souvenir shops and Amazon and Ebay)
Bottle holders for the table at diner parties
Bottle and Wine glass table rack (From Germany and Austria)
Denbies, Surrey, England, UK summer 2018 shop stocked grape and bottle theme gifts and sold candles, jewellery, cushions, handbags, all kinds of souvenirs.

Useful Websites
USA

https://www.visitacity.com/en/san-francisco/activities/all-activities

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowTopic-g32766-i258-k2981882-Souvenirs-Napa_Napa_Valley_California.html

UK

https://www.denbies.co.uk/visit-us/gift-shop/

ASIA

Under cabinet wine glass racks

https://www.qoo10.sg/s/WINE-GLASS-HOLDER?keyword=WINE+GLASS+HOLDER (Asia)

Decorative tableware wine glass racks

https://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/CN/wrought-iron-wine-racks.html

See my other posts on wineries and tours.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Royal Wedding Countdown - what to wear and eat, British style, out or at home

Windsor and Eton with crown decoration. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

This is the street decoration for Christmas. You can bet there will be street decorations just as fine for a royal wedding. At the end of the street you can see Windsor Castle.

Problem
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wedding - what happens when? I don't want to miss any of it. Dress in your best to enjoy the day. What will you wear? The date is Saturday May 19 and in England we say, Ne'er cast a clout til may be out, meaning the sun may be out but it could still be chilly.

Answer
Windsor in Berkshire is expecting more than 100,000 people and if you go there security will be tight, so you may be stopped and searched or wait in line whilst others are checked. If you are not one of the 600 guests viewing the wedding in St George's Chapel, you could still see the carriage procession.

If you decide to go to Windsor before or after the event, you can see the wonderful castle which dominates Windsor and Eton which are two sides of the river.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, photo by Mark Jones in Wikipedia.

The Countdown
11.30 Sit down by the TV in a comfortable chair with a glass of Champagne, Cava or Prosecco, or something British such as cider, Scotch whisky, or an English white wine from one of England's many vineyards such as Denbies or Nyetimber.

What To Eat - Main Course
What could you eat? Something British. If you are out in the street, get a takeaway, fish and chips.

My favourite pubs/ The Wetherspoon chain. Lots of choice of food and drink. Lots of bargains.

My second choice? A carvery.

At home for lunch or supper? How about roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Roast potatoes. Brussel sprouts.

Buy British
You should find something in Marks & Spencer, Tescos, Waitrose, Sainsbury's or Morrisons, all British. (Or, for cheaper prices, opt for Aldi, Lidl and sandwiches from Poundshop and Boots the chemist.

British Desserts
At a pub in Eton, I ordered a dessert called Eton mess, which is broken up meringues (looks a mess but tastes declicious) with strawberries and cream.

For less sugar, more fruit, after your main course, order or make apple crumble with yellow custard.

Between Meals
Perhaps a healthy snack of an apple, a British apple, Cox's orange pippin.

At tea time you could have homemade scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam.

Timing
12 noon, the Ceremony starts. This should take about an hour.

The wedding reception will take place in Windsor Castle.

Later that day there's a sporting event, maybe involving the royals. At 5.30 it's kick off time for the FA (Football Association) cup finals. Prince William usually presents the prize, but it's not certain where he will be.

However, you can bet the pubs with TVs will be busy with screens turned on and special flags and bunting and special offers on drinks and food.

You can't wait until May? The couple will be visiting other places in the UK, notably on Friday April 6th 2018 in Bath, England, at the trials for the Invictus games in Sydney Australia. HRH Prince Harry is patron.

Invictus, you may recall, is a poem, one of my favourites. (More Invictus games in Sydney, Australia in October 2018.)

Booking a British Break
You have still time to book a flight to England, or postpone a trip from England to elsewhere, or come home early.

Angela Lansbury at a souvenir shop in Heathrow airport, London, England, UK, standing behind a cutout of HM THe Queen. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

Useful Websites

https://www.visitbritainshop.com/world/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwnfLVBRCxARIsAPvl82GP69PmU8JypOxaHH_UHQUjjtuE47vI1wGfGlU2pqkIdYBrRy3OpLgaAvT5EALw_wcB

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5558081/30million-ring-steel-protect-Prince-Harry-Meghan-Markles-wedding.html

https://www.invictusgames2018.org (Sydney, Australia.)

https://www.teambath.com/2018/03/28/invictus-games-trials/ (Bath, England.)

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Wine buying and tasting in England: Earls Barton and Denbies

Even when they are closed you can see the neat rows of vines.

Bottle of the Earls Baron, Saxon, Dry white wine, from New Lodge Vineyard.

Problem
What's near London and reasonably priced?

Answer

New Lodge Vineyard

Earls Barton

Northampton 

NN6 0HF

Tel:  01604 811311

Email:  newlodgevineyard@me.com

Open on Saturday 10-3 and other times by arrangement. £5 (adults only) for wine tasting. (£7 per person for private tastings).

Ask if they have the free wine map showing Britain's 250 vineyards, many of which are open to th public and have tours, sales, restaurants. Some are open summer only, some are closed harvest time and some are open all year.

Other big ones include

DENBIES - supermarket size shop, downstairs cafeteria and upstairs seated restaurant with higher prices and a view - must book. Tours of vineyard and/or tour of cellar. My all time favourite.

If you just want a wine shop with an Enomatic wine dispensing machine so you can test wine by the glass (more like a third of a glass and a few souvenirs, postcards, chocolates, bottles of wine and bottle openers, go to the shop at The Old Bridge Hotel. It's very grand, elegant old English, by a river with outdoor seating.

(See previous posts on The Old Bridge Hotel Restaurant and posts on wine tastings worldwide (including UK and Romania).

You can also see production of beer, cider and whisky, in London and around Wales (wine) and Scotland (whisky). 

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Tips
www.newlodgevineyard.co.uk
http://www.denbies.co.uk/visit-us/indoor-tours/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Prince Charles, Camilla and Denbies, and Top Twenty Stories of What's new on the English and Worldwide wine, spirit and pub scene?

Problem
I went to Imbibe at Olympia exhibition hall in London looking for new wines, spirits, pubs, tours, novelties and interesting people. What do I remember best?

Answers

1 Mezcal with salt.

Mezcal display

Mezcal blue bottle featuring the blue agave plant. What a brilliant blue. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

 Tequila and Agave
My favourite chat was at the Tequila stand.
"Do you know what Mezcal is and where it comes from?" a smiling man asked me.
"Mexico?" I guessed.
"Yes. Like Tequila, it's made from the agave plant. And do you know the difference between Mezcal and tequila?"
"No. Tell me!" I said, sipping the Mezcal.
"M e z c a l comes from green agave. Tequila comes from blue agave. We drink it with a slice of orange dipped in this."

The story of the agave plant used in tequila appears in their literature. The plant appears on a beautiful blue bottle. My favourite tequila? Definitely the San Matias Gran Reserva served in a glass with salt around the rim.

The stand had a dozen types of flavoured ground pepper. All different colours. I should have stayed and tried them all. Next year. I was in too much of a hurry to race around the show to the next excitement.

On another stand I saw a huge display of agave.

2 Mist
My next memory is of the white mist rising out of the drinking glass. That caught my attention. I'd seen it before but it never fails to amaze me. Every bar tender and party host should have one. The perfect party trick. The company is called chilli stick and the chillistick costs £1.50.

It's like watching a plane fly. Whatever the explanation, I never fail to be impressed that it works. The gadget and the person operating it are fantastic, in the old fashioned sense of the word.

3 That Hat!
I moved on and saw a man in a hat. I was reminded of the old song, "Where did you get that hat?"

He makes the hats himself. The Hat man of London. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

Hats
Amazing, Amusing. Just like the people on the London tube trains. (I later saw a girl with purple hair on the way home - no it wasn't what I'd drunk, she had dyed purple hair.) At the show were lots of people dressed head to foot in unusual clothes and a few with very few clothes and head to foot tattoos.  The most interesting hat was worn by a visitor. The H a t  M a n of London. He has a page on Facebook. He makes hats for festivals and events. (I inserted spaces because the spelling corrector prefers batman.)

5 Pirate Hat
Speaking of hats, I heard of another hat. I was standing in the queue (Americans would say line up) for one of the tasting sessions, and I got talking to a friendly, lovely lady who is co-owner with her husband of the Voodoo cafe cum restaurant cum cocktail bar in Darlington. She showed me a picture on her mobile phone of her husband who always wears a pirate style black bandanna.

6 Denbies Vineyard Tour and Camilla
In the next queue I got chatting to a guide from Denbies vineyard, Esther Woods. I remember visiting Denbies, one of the best vineyards and cellar visits in the world. I took both tours.

I asked Esther if anybody famous had visited the vineyards. "Yes," she said. "Prince Charles and Camilla."

After my vineyard and cellar tours, I had eaten at Denbies' upstairs restaurant.

Esther told me that the upstairs restaurant with the panoramic view is very popular on summer weekends. If you are booking for a Saturday or a special occasion such as Mother's Day or Father's Day, you need to book a week in advance.

The Denbies complex also has a self service cafeteria on the ground floor alongside a huge shop with all kinds of wines and bottle openers and gadgets and wine theme kitchenware and clothes.

7 Cucumber Gin
From summer wine, to summer spirits. The subtle sweetness of summer, they say, Cucumber Gin is made in one of the UK's older distilleries using 100 British grain. Add your favourite tonic and a slice of cucumber.

8 Cornish Gin
Trevethan Distillery in Cornwall uses a family recipe from Norman Trevethan from the 1920s.

Their gin uses soft Cornish spring water. They suggest serving 50ml of Trevethan Gin with 100 ml of light tonic, a large twist of orange peel, a sprig of rosemary and juniper berries.

9 Japanese Kokoro Gin
I didn't try the Japanese gin but I admired their bottle as I walked past the stand. White, milk white, opaque, with an elegant curving black squiggle like a dancer or a piece of spiralling foil twisting in the breeze.Their gin is made with Sansho berries.

10 East London Liquor Company
Their distillery in East London produces gin, vodka and whisky.
You can sit eating and drinking and looking at the distillery. A wonderful English revival, something new in the old East End of London.

Tips
www.chillistick.com
http://www.denbiesvineyard.co.uk
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/event/prince-charles-and-the-duchess-of-cornwall-visit-denbies-wine-estate
www.eastlondonliquorcompany.com
www.englishdrinkscompany.co.uk
www.sanmatias.com
http://www.tequila.net/tequila-reviews/extra-anejos/san-matias-tequila-extra-anejo-gran-reserva.html
https://www.facebook.com/The-Hatman-of-London-
www.trevethandistillery.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have many more posts on wine, food, restaurants and travel novelties. Please share links to my posts.

Wine Museums Around The World

You can visit wine museums in most of the wine producing countries.

Spanish Wine Museum
I visited an excellent wine museum in a village outside Haro, in the Rioja region of northern Spain. it has huge numbers of different vines planted outside alongside the car park with a path and plaques and notice boards, each vine labelled.

Inside was a large exhibition on wine, a supermarket size shop selling everything from bottle openers and wine glasses and books and postcards to scarves and clothes with wine bottle of grape motifs. An all day gourmet cafe and an expensive fine restaurant for lunch or dinner were also on the site, and a paid for cellar tour.

French Wine Museums
The USA Today website has a series of slides you can click on and read the text about the Cité du Vin museum. The city of wine is, of course, Bordeaux.

Wine Museums Worldwide
The Forbes website covers the Bordeaux museum but allows you to click on links to the wine museums in California, France and Greece.

Wikipedia lists other wine museums worldwide which include those in Cyprus.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36424039
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/food-and-wine/2016/05/31/cite-du-vin-bordeaux/85153062/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wine_museums  Cité Du Vin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wine_museums  list of wine museums
http://www.forbes.com/sites/eustaciahuen/2016/05/31/worlds-first-wine-theme-park-museum-opens-in-bordeaux/#2125202453c0
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2015/07/top-10-wine-museums-of-the-world/

Wine Museums:

CYPRUS
The Cyprus Wine Museum, 42 Odos Pafou (42 Paphos & Knights Street Corner, Λεωφ. Αποστόλου Λουκά, Ερήμη 4630, Cyprus

Phone:+357 25 873808

FRANCE
Hameau Dubref
There's another wine museum at 5 Square Charles Dickens in Paris.

GERMANY
I have fond memories of standing on a giant wine barrel in Heidelberg.

Mosel Vinothek and Wine museum
See reviews on TripAdvisor.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g198633-d1873535-Reviews-Mosel_Vinothek_Wine_Museum-Bernkastel_Kues_Rhineland_Palatinate.html

GREECE
Kouksoyannapoulos

MALTA
I took a tour of the Marvsovin premises with a tasting. This is a proper organised tour with a booking, a guide, tour groups, the history of the owners family, items used in wine making through the centuries a mannequin, a mock up of an old farmhouse vineyard, and colourful and amusing modern paintings by Maltese artists.

Photos by Angela Lansbury. 

We had previously taken the ferry over to Gozo where we saw a sign for free tasting and stopped. 

UK
Vinopolis, London;
 Berry Brothers wine shop in a historic building in London near Piccadilly. Berry Brothers hold wine tastings in their cellars in the evenings, must book, quite expensive.

Drive out to Denbies, on a summer day and you can book and pay for an indoor or outdoor wine tour. They have a ground floor cafeteria and a large shop, plus a grander upstairs restaurant.

The most striking thing about the outdoor tour, chugging uphill on a motorised 'train' was seeing the two vineyards on opposite hillsides, one in sun and the other in shadow, and suddenly realising what the French terroir or territory is all about.

Photos by Angela Lansbury.
Were we 'happy' with our indoor tour. It looks like we were.

I recommend both the indoor and outdoor Denbies tours. Luckily I did the outdoor tour first, and finished in the restaurant.  Once you've had the three glasses of wine included in the indoor tour, you are ready to eat.

USA
Drive north of San Francisco and you come to a wine region with a series of vineyards, shops and tours.

California Wine Museum
Americans have contributed to the funds need to develop the wine museum in France.

I shall give the last word to the French.
Napoleon said of Champagne, "In victory you deserve it; in defeat you need it!"

See my previous posts on wine tastings, wine fairs and museums.

Angela Lansbury, author of Quick Quotations, travel writer, researcher and photographer. Author and speaker.

Wine Museum Nicknamed 'Guggenheim of Wine' Opens In Bordeaux

A wine museum, Cité Du Vin, (City of Wine) nicknamed the Guggenheim of Wine by the Mayor has opened in Bordeaux in France. The word Guggenheim is after the New York art museum, famous for its spiral design (very novel in the days when most galleries and buildings would have been oblong).
However, the pictures of the interior reminded me of the central atrium in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. (Rather nearer to France than the USA.)

The museum is certainly avant grade. The outside is clad in aluminium. Inside are what look like column sized wooden wine bottles.

The price of 20 Euros, about 22 American dollars, about £10, includes a glass of wine - and a chance to admire a panoramic view over the riverside city through the slanting floor to ceiling windows from the rooftop wine bar (a bit like the exciting views from the Shard in London or looking along the river Thames from the Oxo restaurant).

You pay an extra $15 for an atelier (workshop). From next year, 2017, they will be opening the first of their exhibitions. Each year the exhibition will feature a different country. The exhibition entry will cost you an extra $8.

Videos show you historic characters such as Churchill, and Napoleon and French writer Colette (who wrote Gigi).

Bordeaux is a contraction of the words border and water which is how you remember it is on the waterside or seaside on the west coast of France. The new museum is also called the shrine to wine.

The outside of the museum resembles wine swirling in a glass. Inside it is modern but tall as a cathedral, very impressive.

Photo from Wikipedia.

Drive south into Spain and you can visit a Spanish wine museum.

Spanish Wine Museum
I visited an excellent wine museum in a village outside Haro, in the Rioja region of northern Spain. it has huge numbers of different vines planted outside alongside the car park with a path and plaques and notice boards, each vine labelled.

Inside was a large exhibition on wine, a supermarket size shop selling everything from bottle openers and wine glasses and books and postcards to scarves and clothes with wine bottle of grape motifs. An all day gourmet cafe and an expensive fine restaurant for lunch or dinner were also on the site, and a paid for cellar tour.

The USA Today website has a series of slides you can click on and read the text about the Cité du Vin museum. The city of wine is, of course, Bordeaux.

Wine Museums Worldwide
The Forbes website covers the Bordeaux museum but allows you to click on links to the wine museums in California, France and Greece.

Wikipedia lists other wine museums worldwide which include those in Cyprus.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36424039
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/food-and-wine/2016/05/31/cite-du-vin-bordeaux/85153062/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wine_museums  Cité Du Vin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wine_museums  list of wine museums
http://www.forbes.com/sites/eustaciahuen/2016/05/31/worlds-first-wine-theme-park-museum-opens-in-bordeaux/#2125202453c0
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2015/07/top-10-wine-museums-of-the-world/

Wine Museums:


FRANCE
Hameau Dubref

GERMANY
Mosel Vinothek and Wine museum
See reviews on TripAdvisor.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g198633-d1873535-Reviews-Mosel_Vinothek_Wine_Museum-Bernkastel_Kues_Rhineland_Palatinate.html


MALTA
I took a tour of the Marvsovin premises with a tasting. See photo in next post.

SPAIN
Near Haro, Rioja region

UK
Vinopolis, London;
 Berry Brothers wine shop in a historic building in London near Piccadilly. Berry Brothers hold wine tastings in their cellars in the evenings, must book, quite expensive.

Drive out to Denbies, on a summer day and you can book and pay for an indoor or outdoor wine tour. They have a ground floor cafeteria and a large shop, plus a grander upstairs restaurant.

California Wine Museum
Americans have contributed to the funds need to develop the wine museum in France.

I shall give the last word to the French.
Napoleon said of Champagne, "In victory you deserve it; in defeat you need it!"

Angela Lansbury, author of Quick Quotations, travel writer, researcher and photographer. Author and speaker.

"Who took a cork out of my lunch?" Champagne. In victory you deserve it, in defeat you need it

WINE QUOTATIONS
"Who took the cork out of my lunch?" That is my near miss quote of W C Fields. However, he probably made the same joke every time he started his act and got quoted or misquoted many times. You see lots of versions of his quotation. So mine is as good as the next. Very apt for the World Travel market where I tried many wines. In this post I shall tell you some chatty stuff about World Travel Market but also where to try wines on tours around the world.

Like so many exhibitions, at WTM you are offered wines and spirits, totally unsuitable for visitors who have to walk around stand all day, walk home up and down stairs not he London underground or tube, and keep their wits about them for negotiating. I would like to suggest to organisers a rule that before 6 pm your stand can serve only wines up to 4 per cent alcohol, which would mean beer and the wine I have recently discovered, Lambrusco, 4 per cent.

My other favourite quotation is about Champagne. 'In victory you deserve it, in defeat you need it.' Napoleon. I tried a lot of wines at World Travel Market in Excel in London. I didn't like any of them. (Which is funny because last year and the year before I had some delicious wines from central Europe, the new tourist countries, like Croatia and Serbia.)

COFFEE
My fondest memory is of being able to revive my energy with the Greek coffee on the Greek stand. (Of course a similar coffee was on the nearby Turkish stand called Turkish coffee.)

WINE EXPERT VIEW ON cool northern and southern regions
I wanted to try new wines at the World Travel Market. From which countries and regions? Back home and on the phone I keep consulting my family wine expert (who achieved level 3 of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust exams - from Jan 1st the letters will change from AIWS associate of the institute of wine and spirits - it will be changed) to something people at first will not know and recognise. My home expert is now doing exams in level 4 - two exams were yesterday in the middle of the World Travel Market. )

 I have only done level one which was 20 hours of studying from the manual and a six hour day of demos, slides and tastings). I was thrilled to bits (excuse the cliche it's too early in the morning to invent new metaphors) to find my exam was an NVQ.  About half the people on my course were in the wine trade already, either as sommeliers or trainees in restaurants or hoping to go into the business or working in wine shops, retail wholesale or marketing.

At home my tame wine expert says you are more likely to find the best wines at a wine fair for experts. However, for relative novices like me World Travel Market is a good introduction to new wines and products from around the world. Especially as I want to see what is offered to the tourist in terms of winery tours.

What did I leave until last ? Places I already know and have visited: Champagne in France (I wrote an article for Take Break magazine, a lovely double page spread. Their house style was to start with a quotation and end with three tips. That's a great style for any travel article.)

In north the west London a recently opened restaurant and bar is called Pizza and Prosecco.

PROSECCO
I went to the Italian stand and had a long chat with a lady from the Prosecco region. I asked which wineries offered tastings. She looked puzzled and told me they all do. She found me a route from Heathrow to Italy on a budget airline (every stand I visited to my amazement it was the same story. The first place mentioned was not the capital city and the national airline but the regional airport and one of the budget airlines - even when the destination was a five star hotel.) So good news for travellers. Spend less on the airfare and more to spare for the hotel, restaurant and tours.

What did I miss?
 I wanted to see Lambrusco. It comes from the north  of Italy where whether is cooler, just as Champagne is from the north of France. Tasmania off Australia is also a slightly cooler region which has a wine industry. Rich tropical wines don't make good sparklers. You need crisp acidic white wine.

Americans have devised a formula for the number of days of sun you need. The EU also has six or seven zones based on another formula, and rules on how much sugar you add in the north or in the south the acid . I know it sounds like something you can't drink. But it is tartaric acid equivalent, the domestic version is cream of tartar, the second most common acidic M a l i c which you find in apples. (The one in lemons is c i t r i c  a c i d.)

Wine tours and shops
I have already done extensive tours including wineries of the USA and Canada, France and Europe, Cyprus, South Africa and New Zealand. If you want supermarket size shops selling everything thing for those who drink wine or don't, the place is California north of San Francisco where one year my family drove for a day or two visiting winery after winery. In Europe for Champagne the big tours of the cellars are in Rheims and so popular you often need to book tours.

In South Africa and Australia wineries are all countryside and more natural and family run and tours  and tastings and souvenirs are hit and miss. Restaurants at vineyards where you might see a souvenir or buy a bottle. Not the huge tourist attractions with crowded supermarkets.

Spain - Rioja, has a wine museum out of the main town of Haro but on the wine trail, and it has an excellent restaurant, a big tour, a huge supermarket with everything from books and cards and tee towels and aprons and ear rings and table mats and coasters and so on, decorated with bunches of grapes, and bottle openers and more. Everything you need for yourself as a souvenir or an amusing yet useful gift for the people next door who while you are travelling will water your plants and reliably feed your cat, drag out the dustbins and answer the post and or the house sitters who say boo to burglars.

Another great place for wine tours is Malta.

Plus of course England where the big place with the supermarket and restaurant and outdoor tour (in season) and indoor tour is Denbies. (I have several previous posts on wine tours.)

In London the food and drink business is really humming. You can enjoy wine tastings at many restaurants in central London and around the country.Wine shops have Enoteca machines offering small tastings for £1 or more or free with a card you stick in a slot in a machine displaying half a dozen wines.Why don't the wine regions have Enoteca machines at the World Travel Market!

Next year World Travel Market will be at Excel November Monday 7th to Wednesday 9th 2016 at ExCel in East London on the DLR (Docklands Light Railway). Please follow my posts and like my pages and follow me on Facebook or link to me on LinkedIn.

Angela Lansbury, freelance travel writer and photographer.

Map of the Vineyards of England and Wales

I saw this map on the wall of The Butlers Wine Cellar Limited in Queen's Park Road, Brighton, when we went in there to buy some wine. I asked where they got the map and said I wanted to know because I'd like one. This is the 2011 edition and out of date which cost £2.95. Helpful Mike in the shop posted me an old copy as he had a spare one. I thought it would arrive in a tube but it packed flat into an A5 envelope with a first class stamp. Thank you, Mike!

I'll be reading it and listing places to visit and checking online to see the places still exist and get updates. So come back later to find out what I've found out.

Would you believe by the time this map was printed in 2011 we already had 160 vineyards in England. Another seven in Wales. And global warming is good news for wine growers in the UK.

I have written earlier posts about visiting vineyards.  Denbies has a big, bustling building offering indoor and outdoor tours, a shop adjoining the ground floor cafe, plus a smart upstairs restaurant. 

Nyetimber is even more picturesque. It was open only intermittently for odd days in 2014 but plans to open more often later next year.  I also tried wine tasting at a bustling vineyard complex in Wales which has a restaurant, a bar, outdoor seating for eating in good weather, a shop and accommodation.

Speaking of English and Welsh wine, do you know the difference between English and British wines? England now has protected status for geographical locations. But a British wine can be a blend, not even grown in England, but blended and bottled somewhere in Britain.

Butler's Wine Cellar Ltd

247 Queens Park Road, Brighton BN2 9X.

Tel: 01273 698 724.

www.butlers-winecellar.co.uk

An online map of vineyards:

http://ukvineyards.co.uk/vineyards-map/

More Associations:

www.drinkaware.co.uk

www.drinkbritain.com

www.englishwine.com

www.englishsparklingwine.com

www.englishwineproducers.com

www.sparklingenglishwine.com

www.ukva.org.uk (UK Vineyards Association)

www.wineguilduk.org

Angela Lansbury, author, travel writer, speaker.

See Angela on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.  

Denbies Vineyard Visit, eat, shop, stay or hold a wedding

Denbies in Dorking is the largest Uk vineyard. They make white, red, rose and sparkling wine. They sell on site and through supermarkets.

Vineyard Tours
Various tours, varying prices, depending on time of year.

The cheese and wine day out would make a great birthday present. Visit a cheese maker in the morning, lunch at Denbies, then tour the vineyard.

Eating
Choice of two restaurants, the ground floor conservatory which serves breakfast and lunch. Or the upstairs restaurant with the panoramic view over the vineyard.

The Shop
You can shop online through their page on Etsy. The shop sells clothes and jewellery and more. Their online shop on easy is called fauxpearlandcrystal.

Their website show pictures of weddings, the shop, and the restaurants.

Also see wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denbies_Wine_Estate
This is the Wikipedia view of the welcome building and tour 'bus'. For further information, more, pictures and picture credits see Wikipedia.

Also see Tripadvisor (Nearly 200 reviews in October 2014.)

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186389-d2446652-Reviews-Denbies_Wine_Estate-Dorking_Surrey_England.

Denbies Wine Estate, 
London Road, 
Dorking 
Surrey RH5 6AA 

http://www.denbies.co.uk/visit-us/
Free parking. Farm shop. Bed & Breakfast.

I'll update this post later this week.

Visiting British vineyards: Denbies and Nyetimber British Wine

Here's my wish list of vineyards to visit in Britain. Surprising as it may seen to those in those in other countries, England has a growing (excuse the pun) wine industry. You can visit vineyards, buy the wines on site or at supermarkets, dine in restaurants and shop in gift shops. Here are a few:

England

Nyetimber
Nyetimber.com
Video about their vineyard.
Their wines are available in restaurants near their vineyards such as Tristan in Horsham as well as London theatres and concert halls.

More about Nyetimber in my later post after my visit.

Tasting at Nyetimber in the barn.

Denbies
Denbies has a restaurant and gift shop.
Denbies Wine Estate
London Road
Dorking
Surrey RH5 6AA
http://www.denbies.co.uk/visit-us/

Wales

http://www.glyndwrvineyard.co.uk

Llanerch Vineyard Restaurant, Llanerch Vineyard, Hensol CF72 8GG, Wales

Newspaper article online:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/may/21/english-wines-vineyard-stays-uk

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/travellers-guide-english-vineyards

(I'll be updating this with photos over the weekend so come back later. Angela Lansbury.)