Wine Travel Guides just has launched two comprehensive on-line travel guides to the major wine regions of Tuscany, Italy and a further two guides to the Rioja wine region in Spain. These are the first guides the website has published to wine regions outside of France, and brings the total number of guides available to fifty.

The guides are written by experienced local specialists who live in the regions and can offer travellers up-to-date information. They include independent recommendations for wine producers to visit, places to stay, eat and shop, as well as an inside guide to local attractions, food specialities and, of course, the wines.

Rioja wines have long been enjoyed internationally and recently the region has dramatically increased its wine tourism offering. Architecturally splendid new wineries have been built, along with new hotels, restaurants and museums – the proximity to Bilbao with its famous Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum has had a direct influence.
On the other hand, Tuscany has long been known as a tourist destination, with wine considered part of the enjoyment of this beautiful region. Wine tourism has been given a boost with the increase in high quality accommodation and restaurants offered by wine producers as part of the general development of agritourism throughout Italy.”

Owner Wink Lorch comments: “I am delighted to extend our guides beyond France, something that visitors have been asking for since the beginning. It was important to find the right authors who could offer an insider’s view to their regions. Our Tuscan contributor, Michèle Shah is a long-term resident of Florence and a very experienced wine and travel writer; Rioja contributor, Tom Perry has worked and lived in Rioja in Spain for over 20 years.”

The Wine Travel Guides website was launched in 2007 as a purely on-line venture offering wine lovers comprehensive information to plan a private wine tour. There are now 50 guides available on the website to download, print or view on-line through an annual subscription. Interactive mapping is available and all guides are regularly updated.
Alongside its website, Wine Travel Guides also seeks to encourage discussion with lovers of wine and travel about visiting wine regions all over the world through its blog, its Facebook page and its Twitter conversations. “In today’s economic climate, independent travellers need to plan trips even more carefully than before. The ability to obtain up-to-date information and get feedback on-line is a great bonus.” comments Wink Lorch.

Wine Travel Guides publishes independent on-line travel guides to wine regions. A sample guide is available on registration and further guides must be purchased through various annual subscription options including gift subscriptions. Visitors may register first to view and download a full sample guide. The website accepts no advertising and all the recommendations are independently selected.