The beautiful walled terraces of Portugal's Douro region, rising in tiers up the steep slopes of the valley along the Douro River, are now classified by UNESCO as world heritage. This area is home to some of Portugal's most renowned red wine producers and the famed Port wine industry. (Wines of Portugal)
Bay Area folks can get spoiled by the abundance of vineyards on their doorstep. Why go out of the way to seek out new wine-tasting experiences, when there’s a grape-loaded cornucopia in Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles and elsewhere?
Well, some people like to search far and wide for their wine, and for them Wine Spectator has a few suggestions. The magazine asked beverage directors at award-winning U.S. restaurants for their favorite wine-centric excursions, which it has compiled into “10 Wine Country Travel Destinations to Visit in 2025.”
Most are European, but two places in North America do make the list: the Finger Lakes in New York and Valle de Guadalupe in Mexico. The latter is reachable via a short plane trip (or long day’s drive) from the Bay Area and “feels to me a lot like what I assume Napa felt like in the 1960s and ’70s,” a sommelier explained. “Creativity and experimentation are through the roof.”
And why Upstate New York? A wine director told the magazine: “The Finger Lakes is a center for research on climate change, hybrid varieties and clonal selection, and getting to experience it all first-hand is both educational and highly enjoyable.”
Wine Spectator’s Wine-Country Travel Destinations for 2025
1 Alsace, France
2 Canary Islands, Spain
3 Douro, Portugal
4 Finger Lakes, New York
5 Jura, France
6 Puglia, Italy
7 Rhône-Alpes, France
8 Roussillon, France
9 Sardinia, Italy
10 Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico
Source: winespectator.com/articles/travel-best-wine-country-hidden-gems-underrated-2025
Originally published at John Metcalfe